UNM Elects Interim Leadership, Saakashvili to Head New Reformers' Board
By Messenger Staff
Thursday, August 6, 2026
The opposition United National Movement (UNM) elected an interim governing council at its 13th party congress on August 5, appointing Irakli Pavlenishvili to lead the party for the next six months until a new permanent chair is elected.
The congress came a month after the mandates of the party's leadership, including chair Tinatin Bokuchava, expired in early July.
The eight-member governing council includes Pavlenishvili, Petre Tsiskarishvili, Ani Tsitlidze, Giorgi Chaladze, Lasha Parulava, Giorgi Botkoveli, Levan Bezhashvili and Irakli Nadiradze. Bokuchava declined to join the body but will remain on the party's political council.
Delegates also endorsed plans for a separate Reformers' Board, which has yet to be formed. The body will be led by UNM founder and jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili, while journalist and television personality Nanuka Zhorzholiani will serve as its secretary general. The board is expected to include people from outside the party and make recommendations on the UNM's future direction.
"The United National Movement congress was held brilliantly," Saakashvili wrote on Facebook after the congress. "An amazing group of people came together."
He thanked Bokuchava for her two years as party chair, saying she "took the right position" by declining a role on the interim governing council.
"Now it is up to our young people, our experienced fighters, Nanuka and the Reformers' Board," Saakashvili said. "I am proud of our fellow comrades and we are preparing for great battles. Strength is in unity."
The interim arrangement follows months of internal disagreements over the party's leadership. In June, Saakashvili urged Zhorzholiani to become UNM chair, but she declined, saying she lacked experience in party politics. A proposal for Zhorzholiani and Bokuchava to serve as co-chairs also failed after Bokuchava rejected the idea.
Ahead of the congress, Bokuchava disputed the legitimacy of a political council meeting that scheduled the event, saying it lacked a quorum. Despite uncertainty over whether she would attend, she took part in the congress.
Zhorzholiani, who has not formally joined the UNM, was absent. She recently launched the "I Love Georgia" campaign, which she says is open to anyone who loves the country and is expected to feed into the work of the Reformers' Board.
