The members of the United National Movement party on Wednesday called for their colleagues to elect the new head of the party, replacing incumbent Nika Melia. 

“We demand that elections be held at all levels, the political secretariat, the political council be elected, and most importantly, new elections for the chairman be held”, Irakli Nadiradze, the party member said at the briefing. 

He stressed that “in this difficult period, it is important to strengthen internal democracy in the party, which will become the basis for increasing fighting abilities”. 

"We see how the third president of Georgia, the creator of the modern Georgian state, Mikheil Saakashvili, is being killed in prison, through the prosecutor's office and the court in Bidzina Ivanishvili's [the founder of the ruling party, former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili] pocket. Ivanishvili is also fulfilling Putin's cherished dream that Saakashvili will no longer be in this country. 

“We also see how Nika Gvaramia [currently imprisoned head of Mtavari channel] is sitting in prison on fabricated charges and how Ivanishvili is fighting all media managers and all media outlets, just so that there will be no more freedom of speech in this country, to establish a dictatorial regime in a systematic way”, Nadiradze said.