Giorgi Vashadze

UNM spokesperson Giorgi Vashadze. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The United National Movement has announced that its election campaign will be launched on June 30.

UNM member Giorgi Vashadze said on Friday that the party will name all its candidates, who will then participate in a primary election to select a candidate for the upcoming presidential election.

“We decided that despite persecution, assaults, detentions, not to change plan of conducting primary election,” Vashadze said in party’s head office on Friday. “We as a responsible opposition June 30 start primaries from Kutaisi and engage in election campaign.”

Candidates will be named at 12:00 on Saturday and those wishing to participate in the primary have until Friday evening to sign up.

The Georgian Dream coalition has already announced its own candidate for the upcoming election – Education Minister Giorgi Margvelashvili.

According to the constitution, the election must be held in October and the president will have to set the date at least 60 days before Election Day.