Levan Khabeishvili on Monday won the election of the head of the United National Movement, the largest opposition group in the country, defeating incumbent Nika Melia after internal party disputes related to imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili.

  The results were announced by the head of the party's election commission, Koba Nakopia, and the votes were distributed among the candidates as follows:

  Nona Mamulashvili - 1,537 votes (3.73%);

  Nika Melia - 16,476 votes (40%);

  Georgy Mumladze - 1,516 votes (3.68%);

  Levan Khabeishvili - 21,656 votes (52.58%).

 Voting for the election of the party chairman began after 10 a.m. on January 28 and ended today, with 49,638 people registered, of which 41,264 voted electronically.

 On November 9, 2022, part of the members of the UNM submitted an application to hold elections for the head of the party. On the same day, Melia said that the election is the "most comfortable" process for him and he is ready to start this process.

 On January 10, Khabeishvili announced that he would not take part in the elections for the head of any party. However, on November 16, he held a briefing in the party and stated that he had decided to participate in the elections.