Seven members of the United National Movement party in the Kutaisi Sakrebulo (Assembly) and a part of the party activists left the party. They argue that there is informal management in the United National Movement, and the new leadership is busy distributing business instead of freeing Saakashvili.

They say they will keep their seats in Kutaisi Sakrebulo.

“After the elections held earlier this year, we received the sad reality that the leadership came to the top with a doomed-to-failure promise, i.e. a lie that deprived the party of experienced, loyal members, completely ignoring them. In parallel with the fact that nomadically moving politicians, who moved from party to party for personal distinction, including those distinguished by their extreme condemnation of Mikheil Saakashvili, deliberately put the United National Movement on the path of becoming a conformist, systemic, pseudo-opposition formation.

Based on this situation, we would like to announce that we officially quit the party today. The country and its citizens’ interests should stay above any individual or political party. The fight against the pro-Russian, informally controlled, undemocratic government will continue, but from a different platform,” said UNM’s Kutaisi Sakrebulo member David Bakhtadze.

The United National Movement had 13 deputies in the Kutaisi Sakrebulo. One MP left the party last month. Seven MPs joined Nika Melia’s team today, and four deputies will continue their activities in Levan Khabeishvili’s team.