On October 23, Nika Melia, the former chairman of the United National Movement (UNM), wrote on his Facebook page that he will not and cannot be where there is informal governance, where there is the harmful influence of Vano Merabishvili and Davit Kezerashvili.

According to him, he will be with those people with whom it is possible to fight and win. "Journalists ask me about the creation of a party board and the presence or absence of negotiations, to which I want to respond publicly: I will not and cannot be where there is informal governance, where there is the harmful influence of Vano Merabishvili and Davit Kezerashvili."

"No independent board, adapted to the people's interest, can be created when the management asks party director Kezerashvili for sound advice. Unity is strength if you have unity with honest and unfaithful people, and I have always been and always will favor such unity. If unity is created for money, election list, and parliamentary mandate, I have nothing to do with it," Melia noted.

According to the former chairman, he will use every chance to unite with the right people around the right goal and fight for victory. 

Melia emphasized: “The only condition I have with the UNM is to end the informal rule in the party in order to end the informal rule in the country. In all other cases, no matter what the platform's name, if it is focused on division or persecution of people because of their different opinions, it will never defeat Ivanishvili, even theoretically. Ivanishvili will be defeated by righteous, principled people, focused on the results and not on the money and position."

On the same day, United National Movement MP Ana Tsitlidze said, "I don't think that Melia's argument is important now - if Georgian Dream manages to retain power in the 2024 elections, neither you, nor I, Melia, or Khabeishvili will be able to stay in this country." Tsitlidze mentioned that now there are two main challenges in the country, candidate status and elections, and any disagreement compared to these issues is insignificant.

Moreover, Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi, noted, "Nika Melia is one of the odious figures in politics. Today, he is angry that Levan Khabeishvili kicked him out of the party's chairmanship." According to Kaladze, there has been a controversy in the Natio­nal Movement for a long time. "Nika Melia is one of the odious figures in politics. Today, he is angry that Levan Khabeishvili kicked him out of the party's chairmanship. He knows very well that Levan Khabeishvili and who was behind him did not act alone. When talking about informal governance, why does he not mention Saakashvili if he really thinks correctly and has the right attitude? There has been a controversy in the UNM for a long time. It started even before Khabeishvili kicked out Melia. After that, the relationship got even worse," the Georgian Dream official emphasized.

Levan Khabeishvili, the chairman of the United National Movement, said that Melia's statements reflect the campaign carried out by Russian propaganda channels. According to Khabeishvili, Nika Melia and others are on a bad path. "If I see that I am speaking in the language of the Russian party, I would definitely think that I am not on the right path," the oppositional leader said. 

When asked whether he intends to expel Nika Melia from the party, Khabeishvili answered that he will not have to make this decision because Nika Melia has long since left the party with his actions. "If they appeal to me that they want to leave the party, I am ready to submit this document, although I do not have to make this decision because, for me, these specific people have separated from the National Movement a long time ago," Khabeishvili concluded.