“The Opposition Alliance remains exactly as it was before,” said Nika Gvaramia, one of the Opposition Alliance’s leaders, speaking to journalists.

According to Gvaramia, nobody had any illusions that life would be straightforward when the Alliance was being formed.

“If unification failed to materialise in 2024, it was partly because disputes and disagreements of this kind could have ended in electoral collapse. Now, this is simply an internal debate within the Alliance. It does no great harm to us here, but during an electoral campaign, it would have caused us serious damage as an electoral entity.

As for the United National Movement, the question of whether to remain within the Alliance is solely for the party to decide, and I hope it will not come to that, particularly given that a statement has already been made ruling it out at this stage,” said Gvaramia.

Gvaramia was also asked about the Opposition Alliance’s statement issued in response to Mikheil Saakashvili. As he explained, the statement was prompted not by criticism, but by what he characterised as a personal attack, specifically, an attack directed at Nika Melia.

“I would remind everyone that when a party’s leader is behind bars, sensitivities are always considerably heightened. Had it been said about me, I would not have considered a response necessary at all. But Nika Melia is a different matter. He is in prison, a political prisoner, and he cannot defend his own reputation from behind bars. We have a moral obligation to do so on his behalf. We considered this a personal attack on Nika Melia, one which, incidentally, Saakashvili subsequently deleted from his own post.

I would also remind everyone that the United National Movement attends Opposition Alliance sessions in considerable numbers and is perfectly capable of defending its leader’s positions there.

As for the money, I have answered this question many times. Ten million dollars is, of course, absurd. If Misha knows something about it, he is welcome to explain. And if anyone believes that our collaboration with Nika Gilauri in any way caused us to refuse to unite with someone, that is not the case. That was our own decision,” said Gvaramia.

When asked whether the Opposition Alliance might collapse before May 26, Gvaramia replied: “I hope that will not happen; on the contrary, I expect it to grow.”

For context: On April 21, former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili wrote on social media: “Back in 2016, Ivanishvili engineered a split within the United National Movement through various intermediaries, cleaving off a large faction and significantly strengthening the regime as a result. In 2018, Bakradze was installed as a counterweight to us, which scuppered the opposition’s victory in the presidential election. In 2024, Ivanishvili brought Gilauri onto the stage and invested ten million dollars in him, effectively preventing any challenge to the elections on a unified ticket. On top of all that, I was completely blacklisted by the opposition television channels, even though I played a decisive role in founding and sustaining at least one of them. As a result, the opposition was unable to hold on to its votes,” Saakashvili wrote.
Additionally, on April 23, Saakashvili wrote: “The opposition must stop accepting money from figures sent in by the regime, under the guise of trivial compromises, and we must put an end to personal feuding.”