TBILISI, July 10 – Georgia’s United National Movement (UNM) is trying to open its reform process to people who do not want to formally join the party, journalist Nana Zhorzholiani said on Thursday.
Zhorzholiani spoke to TV Pirveli about changes planned inside the UNM and a new “reformers’ council” announced by jailed former president Mikheil Saakashvili, the party’s founder and most influential figure.
According to Zhorzholiani, Saakashvili believes some people want to take part in reshaping the party but do not want to become party members or be publicly affiliated with the UNM. For that reason, she said, he decided to create the council as an independent structure.
Zhorzholiani is being considered for the role of executive secretary of the council, Rezonansi reported.
She described the plan as an attempt to build a “business-like coalition” around the party’s renewal. In her view, and in Saakashvili’s view, the UNM remains the strongest and most important political tool against the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Zhorzholiani said she believes the UNM will become even more necessary in the near future, because it may grow stronger and find a more suitable political niche.
She said Saakashvili is effectively telling outside professionals to take part in changing the party without having to enter it. She added that the people she has met so far about the process are non-party professionals in their own fields.
Asked whether such people would later become party members, Zhorzholiani said they would not necessarily do so. A person may help with reforms and still decide six months later not to join the party, she said.
