Gap between rich and poor is widening and the trend should be immediately stopped, Gigi Ugulava, the mayor of capital city Tbilisi, said in his address to the ruling National Movement party congress in Tbilisi on November 23.

Thousands of ruling National Movement party activists are gathered at the congress, which is expected to officially nominate Mikheil Saakashvili as a candidate to run for the January 5 early presidential elections. The congress is aired live by the Georgian televisions.

Ugulava, a close ally of President Saakashvili, focused in his speech about the necessity to make individual citizen feel progress that has been done by Georgia in recent four years – the line has become a cornerstone of President Saakashvili’s election campaign ahead of polls.

“Everything that has been done and that will be done should be reflected on each and every citizen,” Ugulava said. “Gap has increased between poor and rich and if we do not stop this trend our society will face a threat of being split into two. But we will not let it happen… Support to Saakashvili is equal to supporting Georgia, supporting the Georgian people.”

Lado Gurgenidze, the new Prime Minister (he is not a member of the ruling party), has also continued the same line in his speech by saying that after rapid growth that Georgia had in recent four years, it was now time to make more focus on social problems.

Parliamentary Chairperson, Nino Burjanadze said while addressing the congress: “Each citizen should feel that we [the authorities] are working for welfare of each and every citizen.”

She also said that painful, but necessary reforms which have been undertaken in recent four years, which were also accompanied by mistakes, should not overshadow importance of the Rose Revolution.

The congress of the ruling party on November 23 coincides with the fourth anniversary of the Rose Revolution.