Khatia Dekanoidze Resigns from UNM After Party Elects New Chair Levan Khabeishvili
By Liza Mchedlidze
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
After Levan Khabeishvili was elected as the chairman of the United National Movement, Khatia Dekanoidze decided to resign from the position of Chairman of the parliamentary faction of UNM.
Khatia Dekanoidze stated that everyone should stop speculating about Mikheil Saakashvili's health. She criticized Khabeishvili for his recent statements according to which the party is ready to leave the parliament, councils, offices and start everything from 'scratch' in exchange for Mikheil Saakashvili's freedom. Dekanoidze said such statements should be agreed upon by the members of the party and added that it was not discussed with her.
"First of all, I will say that the freedom, health, and life of Mikheil Saakashvili is the first priority for us, for me, and for all those people. I was not aware of this announcement. Therefore, in any case, I call on everyone to stop speculating on Mikheil Saakashvili's health. The main task is Mikheil Saakashvili's health condition and we must do everything to save his health, but the party is a collegial body and everyone needs to share thoughts and opinions with colleagues, especially when making such a serious statement such as, for example, the new chairman made now. I don't know in what context it was said. Any such serious statement must be agreed upon by all colleagues. This statement was not discussed with me.
Let's suppose that the question arises that the political council of the party should decide this topic, I am not against that either. Everyone should understand that working in the parliament means working on the issue of Nika Gvaramia, as, for example, now in the European Council, working on the issue of Mikheil Saakashvili with our international partners. If the Political Council makes this decision, this decision will be made by the majority of our voters, so in any case, it will be acceptable to all the people who are in the parliament.
I really don't like it, when in reality there are only statements and nothing concrete changes happen behind them. Therefore, in my opinion, populist politics should end once and for all, because populist politics simply has no future, not only in the party but in general. So that no one thinks that I am manipulating any opinion in this regard, I am going to appeal to the chairman of the parliament, to leave the post of the chairman of the parliamentary faction, and actually, then we will make the decision, which, I think, is populist, but still harmful to the party," said Khatia Dekanoidze.
After the victory of Levan Khabeishvili in the internal party elections, several politicians have already resigned from the party positions.
