TBILISI, August 5 – Georgia’s opposition United National Movement has scrapped its top leadership posts and replaced them with a temporary governing council as part of a reform process.
The decision was approved at a party congress on Wednesday, Rezonansi reported.
The posts of party chair, secretary general and other senior leadership positions were abolished. An eight-member governing council will now run the party during the transition, with Irakli Pavlenishvili appointed as its head.
The other members are Petre Tsiskarishvili, Ana Tsitlidze, Giorgi Chaladze, Lasha Parulava, Giorgi Botkoveli, Levan Bezhashvili and Irakli Nadiradze. The council may have up to nine members.
Former chair Tina Bokuchava declined an offer to join the new body and will remain an ordinary member of the party’s political council.
Her decision followed a tense dispute over a July 30 political council meeting, which she did not attend. Bokuchava had argued that the meeting and its decisions were illegitimate because there was no quorum.
She attended Wednesday’s congress and struck a more conciliatory tone, stressing party unity and saying she did not plan to leave the UNM.
Bokuchava said she did not see herself serving in a temporary management structure and preferred to continue her political work as a regular political council member.
The party also launched a separate Reform Council. Former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is in prison, will chair that body, while journalist Nanuka Zhorzholiani will serve as executive secretary.
Delegates heard an audio message from Saakashvili as well as letters from imprisoned party figures Irakli Nadiradze and Levan Khabeishvili.
The party says the governing council and Reform Council will work together over the next six months to prepare a strategy for modernising and strengthening the UNM. The results are expected to be presented at a future congress.
Saakashvili thanked Bokuchava for her work over the past two years and said the party was now placing greater responsibility on younger members and the reform team.
The ruling Georgian Dream party dismissed the changes as a weak attempt to rebrand the opposition party.
