There are less than four months left until the local elections, but the opposition is growing so much that they do not shy away from public accusations against each other. The confrontation within the “National Movement” has become particularly acute, as well as between the leaders of the “New” party, Nika Gvaramia and Nika Melia. Sources confirm that it is impossible to agree on a common strategy and there is talk of both tactical and personal and political disagreements.
An inside source tells for.ge about the controversy within the opposition:
“Consultations have been going on since March. At first, the idea was – a unified opposition mayoral candidate in Tbilisi. Gvaramia’s team was skeptical about this from the very beginning. For them, this is a more personal issue – who will control the process, who will be the leader. There is practically no contact between Melia and Gvaramia anymore, their cooperation is formal, which prevents the formation of a common strategy. As far as I know, they also have a conflict regarding the non-payment of bail. A rather difficult situation has arisen because Melia did not want to be detained. However, Gvaramia sacrificed both Melia and Japaridze. The goal is to attract international attention,” says a member of the opposition party who directly participated in the negotiations.
