Nino Burjanadze is a Georgian politician and lawyer who served as Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia from November 2001 to June 2008. As the first woman she has served as the acting head of state of Georgia twice; the first time from 23 November 2003 to 25 January 2004 in the wake of Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation during the Rose Revolution, and again from 25 November 2007 to 20 January 2008, when Mikheil Saakashvili stepped down to rerun in the early presidential elections. She withdrew into opposition to Saakashvili as the leader of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia party in 2008. In October 2013, she ran for president in the October 2013 election. She ran against 22 candidates and ended third with 10 percent of the vote.
The Union of Citizens of Georgia was a centre-left political party established by Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia from 1992–2003 and David Chantladze, former General Trade Representative of the Soviet Union to Czechoslovakia. It was established in the mid-1990s as a vehicle for modernising politicians. It became the majority grouping in the Georgian parliament following the parliamentary elections of November 1995, with Shevardnadze winning the presidency at the same time.
Giorgi "Gigi" Ugulava is a Georgian politician and the former Mayor of Tbilisi (2005–2013). He was one of the former leaders of the United National Movement (UNM) party and former close ally of the former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.
Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on May 21, 2008. President Mikheil Saakashvili proposed a referendum on bringing them forward from October to April after the 2007 Georgian demonstrations. The referendum was held at the same time as the early presidential election on 5 January 2008; according to exit polls, voters were largely in favour of having the elections in spring.
Levan Gachechiladze is a Georgian politician and businessman who ran as the main oppositional candidate in the 5 January Georgian presidential election, 2008.
Davit Bakradze is a Georgian politician and diplomat who served as the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia from June 7, 2008, to October 21, 2012.
The Republican Party of Georgia, commonly known as the Republicans, is a political party in Georgia active since 1978. Until March 2016, the party was a part of the Georgian Dream coalition that won the 2012 election, defeating the United National Movement.
In 2009, a mass rally by a coalition of opposition parties in took place in Georgia against the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili. Thousands of people demonstrated, mainly in the capital, Tbilisi, starting on 9 April 2009, demanding Saakashvili's resignation. On the first day of demonstrations, up to 60,000 people gathered in Tbilisi. Opposition activists had expected some 100,000 – 150,000 participants. Protests continued for over three months, although fewer people participated as time passed than during the first days. On 26 May 2009, the Georgian Independence Day, 50,000 protesters took part. Although peaceful at first, there were incidents of fighting between the Georgian police and protesters. The daily rallies gradually dwindled and ended, without achieving any tangible results, on 24 July –107 days after they kicked off.
Kakha Kukava is a Georgian politician, former member of Parliament of Georgia and a leader of Free Georgia Party.
The 2011 Georgian protests were a series of anti-government protests in Georgia against President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Georgian parliamentary election of 2012 was held on 1 October 2012 in Georgia. It was the 7th legislative election held since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The opposition Georgian Dream coalition of billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili won a majority of seats. President Mikheil Saakashvili conceded his party's loss.
Presidential elections were held in Georgia on 27 October 2013, the sixth presidential elections since the country's restoration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The last elections in January 2008 resulted in the re-election of Mikheil Saakashvili for his second and final presidential term. Saakashvili was constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term.
David Usupashvili is a Georgian lawyer and politician who was the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia from 2012 to 2016. He served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Georgia from June 27, 2005 to November 3, 2013. Nowadays, he is Leader of Development Movement.
Giorgi Margvelashvili is a Georgian academic and politician who was the fourth President of Georgia, in office from 17 November 2013 to 16 December 2018.
The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia is a self-defined centre-right, conservative opposition party in the republic of Georgia. It was founded in 2012 by leaders from the Resistance Movement and its platform includes anti-Western positions. The party currently supports European integration, it supports Christian and democratic values, and the party demonstrates itself as a moderate-conservative party. The party campaigned against the building of a mosque in Adjara, saying “Turkey has too much influence in Georgia,” so it has been accused of Anti-Turkism. The party favours closer ties with both Russia and the European Union.
The Georgian local self-government election, 2017 was held on 21 October 2017 to elect the bodies of local government of Georgia: 2,058 members of representative councils (sakrebulo) and 64 mayors of municipalities. The ruling Georgian Dream party won in all constituencies under the proportional contest and secured 63 out of 64 mayoral positions. The votes went into second-round runoffs in six municipalities, scheduled for 12 November 2017.
