Levan Gachechiladze

Levan Gachechiladze ( _ka. ლევან გაჩეჩილაძე) (born July 20, 1964) is a Georgian politician, Member of Parliament for Vake-Saburtalo District of Tbilisi and businessman who also ran as the main oppositional canidate in the 5 January Georgian presidential election, 2008.

Life and family

Gachechiladze currently lives in Tbilisi, the city where he was born [ [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/11/16CA2FBF-0059-422C-8474-70D272217C07.html Georgia: Opposition Names Entrepreneur As Presidential Candidate - RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY ] ] . He was educated at Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University where he read mathematics and economics. He is married, with three children [cite web|url=http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=2&cevri_id=351|title=Gachechiladze Levan(Georgian Parliament profile)|accessdate=2007-11-13] .His brother is the Georgian pop star Giorgi Gachechiladze, known as "Utsnobi" (literally: "unknown" or "stranger"). [cite news|url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav111207.shtml|title=Georgian opposition announces presidential candidate|date=2007-11-12|last=Corso|first=Molly]

Business activities

Gachechiladze is a successful businessman, whose personal wealth is estimated to be $USD10 million [ [http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=3190 The Georgian Times on the Web: Comprehensive news site, daily international, national and local news coverage , breaking news updates, sports, reviews ] ] . His principal business interest is in running the Georgian Wine and Spirits Company [ [http://www.gws.ge/eng/index.php Georgian Wine and Spirits Company] ] , a company founded by him in 1994. In 1999 Gachechiladze was named as the Businessman of the Year, his company gaining the titular of the Company of the Year. [ [http://www.gws.ge/eng/company.php GWS - About Company ] ]

Political career

Gachechiladze is a member of parliament, representing Tbilisi electoral district no. 2 [ [http://www.parliament.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=2&cevri_id=351 Parliament of Georgia (Tbilisi, Caucasus Region) - MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT ] ] . He joined the liberal-conservative New Right Party in 1999, as one of a group of 'New Faces'. In September 2000 he became one of the founding members of the 'New Faction', a group led by David Gamkrelidze. When, in June 2001, the New Faction was absorbed into a new group called the 'New Conservative Party of Georgia' (NCP), Gachechiladze became chairman of this new group.

Gachechiladze had previously served as chairman of the Economic Reform Committee.

Gachechiladze was involved in the demonstrations held in Tbilisi in November 2007. He was one of four activists who began a hunger strike to demand early parliamentary elections. He was also injured during the protests. [cite news|title=Georgia: Opposition Names Entrepreneur As Presidential Candidate|url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/11/16CA2FBF-0059-422C-8474-70D272217C07.html|date=2007-12-11|work=RFE/RL]

Candidacy in 2008 presidential elections

On 12 November 2007 Gachechiladze was named as a candidate for the January 2008 Georgian presidential election [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7091159.stm|work=BBC|title=Georgia poll challenger named|date=2007-11-12] . His candidacy is supported by the 'National Council', a coalition of some ten opposition parties: [cite news|title=United Nominated Levan Gachechiladze For Presidential Elections|url=http://eng.primenewsonline.com/news/121/ARTICLE/16801/2007-11-12.html|date=2007-12-11|work=Prime News]
* Republican Party
* Conservative Party of Georgia
* Georgia's Way
* People's Front
* Freedom Movement
* Movement for United Georgia
* National Forum
* Kartuli Dasi
* Ourselves

The Georgian Labour Party was also a member of the coalition, but did not support Gachechiladze's candidacy, eventually nominating its leader Shalva Natelashvili.

On 5 January 2008 Georgian presidential election, 2008 was held nationwide with the exception of highland village Shatili, where the polling station was not opened due to the high levels of snowfall. The earliest exit polls, carried out by the group of non-governmental organisations and mass-media, suggested the victory of Mikheil Saakashvili with more than half of all the votes (52.5%), securing a full victory to Saakashvili, in turn, avoiding the need for the second run-off. [ [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2008-01-05T172049Z_01_L04543346_RTRUKOC_0_UK-GEORGIA-ELECTION.xml today.reuters.co.uk] ] Later results of archevnebi.ge [ [http://archevnebi.ge/index.php?module=text&link_id=57 archevnebi.ge] ] showed Saakashvili had won with 53.5% whereas other source ukMSN stated Saakashvili had gathered 53.8% of all votes. The exit polls of all different sources reported Saakashvili's victory. Georgian opposition criticised the exit polls declaring they were biased towards the former president. The central election commission announced that Saakaashvili had won 52.8% of votes cast on Saturday, almost 2 times his opponent, 43-year-old wine producer Levan Gachechiladze, with 27%. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0539702720080107 Reuters, Saakashvili wins Georgian presidential election] ]

He is running in the May 2008 Parliamentary election from Tbilisi’s Samgori constituency on the United Opposition bloc ticket. [ [http://www.civil.ge/eng/detail.php?id=17552 List of Majoritarian MP Candidates.] Civil Georgia, April 24 2008.]

References

External links

* [http://www.levangachechiladze.com/ge/ www.levangachechiladze.com]