UNM plan to oppose the government
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, February 4
Vano Merabishvili, the Secretary General of the United National Movement party, emphasized that the “UNM will not let the coalition Georgian Dream remain in power during the next four years.”
“We should start taking things into our own hands,” Merabishvili stated. Step-by-step we should stop the current government,” Merabishvili said, adding that the methods the UNM will use to achieve this goal will be revealed.
“Through time and by using the levers we still have, we will stop the coalition from carrying out politics that will weaken Georgia,” the General Secretary underscored.
“We hear nothing but lies from the United National Movement and I cannot offer a serious response regarding the statements made by them,” Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili said.
Ivanishvili emphasized that after the Georgian Dream came to power, the UNM is only engaged with making false statements and trying to somehow discredit the actions of the new Georgian leadership.
“They repeatedly claim there is bribery in the country, an economic crisis, increased crime and so on. None of these statements are close to reality,” Ivanishvili said.
According to constitutional analyst Vakhtang Dzabiradze, the coalition still could not manage to lay out a new scheme of relations with the United National Movement. According to Dzabiradze, the reason for this might be the fact that the coalition still could not form itself as one united team with one action plan.
“The UNM has a very solid plan of action and tactics that they use to deliver painful blows to the coalition. For such aims the UNM successfully uses the media,” Dzabiradze said, adding that the coalition should work more on information police and PR direction.
According to the head of the Elections and Political Technologies Research Centre Kakha Kakhishvili, the UNM acts like it was acting during the final period of Eduard Shevardznadze’s presidency.
Kakhishvili stated that for them to destroy Shevardznadze’s leadership, the UNM firstly took control of the court and appointed their judges who of course were allied with the party. Then, the UNM carried out attacks on the security service, the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s office; they demoralized the structures and seriously changed the legislation.
“They practically destroyed the institutions,” Kakhishvili stated, adding that the strategy of the UNM has not changed.
“The UNM will maximally use the parliament stage to create a negative mood within the current leadership in the eyes of the international community and work on such people that were waiting for swift changes and are not satisfied with the decisions made by the coalition,” Kakhishvili said. The analyst also underscored that after carrying out such action, the UNM will strengthen its satellite NGOs and media outlets.
Kakhishvili thinks that to defend against UNM attacks, the coalition should be aware of past examples and be alert.
“Ivanishvili should think about strengthening its own party. If Ivanishvili does not have his own strong party, he will not have a professional government that will professionally oppose the attacks of the UNM,” Kakhishvili stated.
Political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze thinks that the UNM has no chance at a popular political resurgence, as their trust among society remains low.
