The executive secretary of the opposition faction United National Movement (UNM), Zurab Japaridze, unexpectedly announced, on May 25, he was leaving the party (Georgiatoday.ge, May 28). Former Georgian president and UNM chairman Mikheil Saakashvili left the country over a year ago to avoid criminal charges that were brought against him by state prosecutors after the Georgian Dream coalition came to power. Whereas, UNM’s general secretary, Vano Merabishvili, is serving a nine-year prison term. Japaridze, UNM’s executive secretary, was thus the political party’s key leader in the interim. According to the party statutes, Japaridze had the power to lead the organization …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation