Saakashvili urges his UNM party to sign agreement with authorities as soon as leader is released
The third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has called on the United National Movement to sign the document proposed by the President of the European Council Charles Michel, after the chairman of the party, Nika Melia, is released from prison.
According to Saakashvili, Melia must leave prison without any preconditions.
In his video message, Saakashvili noted that there are two very important points in the signed document.
One of them – “the heroic party chairman Nika Melia should be released from prison, like Giorgi Rurua (founder of the opposition channel Mtavari Archi, convicted of possession of weapons last year).”
Secondly, according to Saakashvili, there is one more key moment in this agreement – in the fall, together with the elections of local self-government, a ‘referendum’ has practically been scheduled.
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On April 18, President of the European Council Charles Michel presented a new package of proposals to the Georgian political parties.
The document is called “The Path of the Future for Georgia” and in a number of important details differs from the last document, which was presented to the opposition on March 31 by the representative of Charles Michel Christian Danielson.
The news touches on two of the most important and most controversial issues between parties – people arrested for political reasons, and new parliamentary elections called for by the opposition.
Representatives of all parties except the ruling party arrived at the office of the EU delegation on April 18 to agree on a new proposal. Later, the ruling party issued a statement saying that the government was “ready” to consider Michel’s proposals.
Finally, the following opposition parties signed Michel’s document:
Lelo [Badri Japaridze and Mamuka Khazaradze]
Agmashenebeli’s strategy [Georgy Vashadze]
Republican Party [Khatuna Samnidze]
Girchi [Vakhtang Megrelishvili]
Citizens [Aleko Elisashvili]
There were also individual signatures, namely: UNM member Salome Samadashvili, former leader of European Georgia David Bakradze and former party leader Girchi Zurab Japaridze.
This morning the document was unexpectedly signed by the outgoing chairman of the National Movement Grigol Vashadze.
Today Charles Michel himself visited Georgia. During the day, he meets with the president, prime minister, government officials and the opposition.
