UNM takes campaign offensive on the road

The United National Movement (UNM) held an election campaign in 11 cities on September 8 and introduced the party's supporters to the election slogan More Benefit to People. During a speech, Saakashvili spoke on the success of the recent “anti-terrorist” operation at Lopota Gorge. He further said that Russia’s attempt to promote their candidate for the Georgian elections was a failure.

“Today the Georgian nation showed that it is united as it has never been before,” he said, adding that the Georgian people have “ordered” the current government to restore the country from its 30-year destruction and begin the rehabilitation of Georgia’s domestic and international image. He said that the restoration of the country’s territorial integrity remains among the tasks that still need to be fulfilled.

By invading Georgia, he said Russia wanted to bring down the government, to decrease Georgia’s geopolitical importance and to hinder Georgia’s integration into NATO, but this goal failed.

While signing the ceremonial agreement accompanied by the newly appointed Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili as a guarantee of their election promises to the Georgian people, Saakashvili said there is still a lot to be done in the country. The president stressed however, that the UNM will deal with every problem.

Although he did not specifically say who he meant, Saakashvili likely was referring to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s team when he coined them as the "people from past" while he called the UNM “the party of future.” It is the UNM which fulfills the real dreams [of the Georgian people] not the promises of Russia and its loyalists.

“We should not give power to mummies but to you – my young children!” he addressed his supporters at the Sport Palace, supposing that “some forces” will attempt to discredit Georgia's democracy and create a mess after elections. “But after this election, our people will get more benefit,” he said citing the UNM slogan.

Gigi Ugulava, head of the National Movement’s Tbilisi organization and PM Merabishvili also encouraged the population to reject the “shadows of past” because they said Georgia cannot “risk” its future.

“I want to tell them: hopes and dreams are a vision for the future not a return to the past,” Ugulava said, referring to the Georgian Dream.

Zugduidi, Ozuregti, Batumi, Kutaisi, Ambroalauri, Axalcixe, Gori, Rustavi, Mtskheta and Telavi were the other destinations of the ruling party rallies on Saturday. Visiting 10 Georgian regions with his family, President Saakashvili said that Georgia cannot jump over Russia and come to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but these two regions should come to developed Georgia themselves.

Summarizing the UNM’s election rally, analyst Khatuna Lagazidze said the president and his team members spoke a lot about their political opponents rather than their own platform. Although he could not find anything new in their speeches, analyst Nika Chitadze did not hide his sympathy to the activities of the ruling party. “I think Georgia is better today than it was in 2003,” he said, supposing that these regional rallies would increase the UNM's rating by a few points.