davit bakradze

Davit Bakradze, one of UNM’s four candidates for president. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Davit Bakradze, leader of the parliamentary opposition, won the United National Movement’s second primary election for the upcoming presidential election in October.

This latest party conference was held in Gori, a town closer to the capital. All of UNM’s four candidates participated: Davit Bakradze, Giorgi Baramidze, Zurab Japaridze and Shota Malashkhia.

The presidential election will be held on October 27. The Georgian Dream coalition, which has a majority of seats in parliament and is in government, has named Education Minister Giorgi Margvelashvili as its candidate. Now voters are waiting to see who will be candidate for their main competitor.

UNM chose to select a candidate by holding primary elections, and are making the primaries part of their election campaign. This is the first time in Georgian history that a political party is conducting such elections to select a candidate.

Davit Bakradze, former Speaker of Parliament, thanked his supporters.

“We must be an opposition which will control the government,” he said.

During the debate, he mainly discussed issues in the agricultural sector, noting that the previous government made many mistakes in this area and must learn from their mistakes. “We should control the government and government must have the will to fulfill its promises.”

The next primaries will be held in the Kakheti region next Sunday. The UNM plans to hold six such party conferences in total and then announce who will be their candidate to run for president.