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. … Read more
TBILISI, July 31 – The leadership struggle in Georgia’s largest opposition party continues as United National Movement chair Tina Bokuchava questioned why a key party meeting was held while she was away from Tbilisi. The United National Movement’s political council met on Thursday, July 30, amid what party officials described as heated internal debate. It … Read more
TBILISI, July 4 – Georgia’s largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), is heading into a new leadership fight, with jailed former president Mikheil Saakashvili publicly recommending four younger party figures. Tina Bokuchava’s two-year term as UNM chair officially expires next week, but according to Rezonansi, the party has not yet named official candidates … Read more
TBILISI, May 21 – Another Georgian opposition figure has turned to Moldova’s President Maia Sandu for inspiration, as Georgia’s anti-government forces continue looking abroad for allies in their fight against Georgian Dream. Levan Tsutskiridze, chairman of Freedom Square, said Thursday that his group had a “good bilateral meeting” with Sandu. The meeting took place on … Read more
TBILISI, March 26 – A U.S. State Department envoy met with the Georgian opposition on Thursday, on a trip that also includes contacts with the government, the private sector and civil society groups. The visiting official was identified as Peter Andreoli, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. According to Interpressnews, the … Read more
TBILISI, November 13 – Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili has been moved out of a private clinic and back into Rustavi prison in a late night transfer which caused political controversy. The penitentiary service and the Ministry of Health say Saakashvili no longer needs hospital care. Saakashvili, his lawyers, and his family insist that he … Read more
TBILISI, October 29 – Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream has formally petitioned the Constitutional Court to ban three opposition parties, accusing them of working to undermine the country’s democratic order. The move, announced Tuesday, has set off fierce debate in Tbilisi and beyond, with critics calling it a political purge and supporters saying it’s a … Read more
TBILISI, October 1 – Unfortunately, every time I appear before you, the situation in Georgia is getting worse, Tina Bokuchava said today at a gathering of the European People’s Party (EPP) political group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Bokuchava, who is one of the leaders of Georgia’s United National Movement (UNM), … Read more
TBILISI, September 25 – Two party tops in the former ruling UNM demand that the European Union must only slap visa sanctions on their country’s political leaders, not its people. This is the message chair Tina Bokuchava and deputy chair Levan Sanikidze brought with them as they toured the famously noisy European Parliament as well … Read more
TBILISI, September 17 – Leaders of Georgia’s biggest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), met in Washington with U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson today to renew efforts to lobby for the MEGOBARI Act, a sanctions bill targeting ruling-party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. UNM chair Tina Bokuchava, secretary general Petre Tsiskarishvili, and senior figure Levan Sanikidze launched … Read more