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The largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), has made several staff changes, including the replacement of the party’s political council head Nika Melia with Koba Nakopia, who has been the executive secretary of the UNM since 2019.

Melia remains in the post of party chairman, and will lead the UNM Tbilisi organisation, replacing Zaal Udumashvili.

Melia stated that the changes in the party are necessary due to the challenges the UNM is facing, adding that he wanted to make reforms last year, but failed due to various events such as his arrest on February 23 and former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s clandestine return to the country in October of 2021 from eight years in political exile.

The Head of the UNM was arrested for incitement of violence during the June 2019 protests in Tbilisi, which were sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament.