The party acquired its current name in 1998, having operated since 1992 under the chairmanship of Aslan Abashidze and the name "Adjaran Union for the Rebirth of Georgia" ("საქართველოს აღორძინების აჭარის კავშირი").
Being number 1 of the Round Table's electoral list, Abashidze led the coalition to the victory in the Adjarian Supreme Soviet election in June 1991.
[2] During the 1991–1992 Georgian coup d'état which ousted Gamsakhurdia from power, Abashidze declared a state of emergency in Adjara, closing its borders and shutting down the Adjarian Supreme Soviet.
Being brought to power through the coup launched by the militia leaders Jaba Ioseliani and Tengiz Kitovani, Shevardnadze saw Abashidze as an useful counterweight against these warlords.
[3] Abashidze further consolidated his power in August 1992 during the War in Abkhazia, when he appointed a seven-member Presidium of the Adjarian Supreme Soviet, made up of his supporters, and began to rule by decree through this body.
Abashidze increasingly restricted opposition, but he managed to prevent various paramilitary groups from entering Adjara's territory, and preserved peace through authoritarianism, which brought him considerable popularity.
Later, in July 1997, several MPs in Georgian parliament defected from the Revival to the new "Mamuli" faction and established close ties with the CUG, which invoked suspicions in Abashidze.
After Eduard Surmanidze, a deputy chairman of parliament from the Revival party defected to the 'reformist wing', Abashidze called for his resignation but was resisted by the UCG.
However, following meetings with Georgian parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania and President Eduard Shevardnadze in Batumi on 5 and 6 April, Abashidze made a last-minute decision to withdraw his candidacy.
[16] At the same time, the relations between the UCG and the Revival began to improve, with President Shevardnadze even suggesting in November 2001 to appoint Abashidze as the new prime minister, describing him as "authoritative and hardworking man, capable of effectively running the government".
[18] Aslan Abashidze, being in strong opposition to the Rose Revolution, declared a state of emergency in Adjara immediately after Eduard Shevardnadze's ousting on 23 November 2003.
[21] Abashidze was not opposed to Shevardnadze in principle and was willing to work with him in the parliament, but was categorically against the 'reformist group' within the CUG, whose accession to power he deemed as highly detrimental to the interests of the Adjaran elite.
[22] Soon after his victory in the snap presidential election in January 2004, the leader of UNM Mikheil Saakashvili took aim at Abashidze with strong anticorruption reforms.
Facing charges of embezzlement and murder, Abashidze destroyed the bridges between Adjara and the rest of Georgia to delay the advance of Georgian troops in Batumi and then fled to Moscow.
[28] Abashidze's foreign policy was Russian-oriented, with him establishing close ties with Russian Defence Minister Pavel Grachev and Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov.