Georgian Parliament Speaker alleges “rebranding” of opposition UNM party ahead of local elections

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday commented on the opposition landscape ahead of the upcoming local self-government elections, stating that he views the current situation as a “rebranding” of the opposition United National Movement party orchestrated from outside.

In his remarks, Papuashvili further noted that there was an attempt to mislead Georgian voters into thinking that the United National Movement no longer existed.

“What we are witnessing is a continuation of the so-called rebranding process that we already saw during previous elections. It is entirely externally managed, and developments are unfolding exactly as we had anticipated”, the Speaker said.

“There is an attempt to mislead Georgian voters into thinking that the United National Movement no longer exists as a brand and is not participating in the elections, when in fact the same political force is being presented under different names”, he continued.

Papuashvili further added that this was a deliberately planned, organised, and executed effort from the outside.

“We are specifically seeing this with two parties - Lelo and [Giorgi] Gakharia’s party. Gakharia is currently abroad and taking instructions. Voters are being led to believe that the United National Movement is not participating in the elections, when in reality, it is the same anti-Georgian political group operating under foreign direction”, the Speaker concluded.