Levan Gachechiladze
Levan Gachechiladze (Georgian ლევან გაჩეჩილაძე; born July 20, 1964 in Tbilisi ) is a Georgian businessman and politician (independent). He is a Member of the Georgian Parliament, a candidate in the presidential elections in Georgia in 2008 unsuccessfully for the office of President. In the Georgian parliamentary elections in May 2008, he was the top candidate of the United National Council.
Life
Studies and career
Gachechiladze studied mathematics and economics at the State University of Tbilisi.
In 1994 he founded together with a Dutch company, the joint venture Georgia Wine & Spirits (GWS ). He was awarded the Georgian businessman of the year and GWS Company of the Year 1999. He now owns 49% of the GWS shares. The others belong to the French wine and spirits group Pernod Ricard. Gatschetschiladses personal fortune is estimated at 10 million U.S. dollars.
Most recently, he worked as a public relations manager at the State Ilia Chavchavadze - University in Tbilisi.
Member of Parliament
In 1999 he organized Mikheil Saakashvili's election campaign to the direct mandate in the constituency Tbilisi- Wake, was even chosen as the candidate list of the Georgian Civil Union in the Georgian Parliament. In 2000 he broke with the party president Eduard Shevardnadze and the opposition group joined New Group to. In 2001 he founded with Dawit Gamqrelidse the New Conservative Party and became its chairman. In November 2003 he won the electoral alliance New Right the direct mandate in the constituency 2 Tbilisi- Wake. He left the New Conservative Party, because their leadership refused to support the Rose Revolution in Georgia, was party -attached Member of the parliamentary faction Democratic Front. He belongs to the parliamentary budget and the Finance Committee.
Spokesman of the mass protests
In November 2007 Gachechiladze became one of the leaders of the mass protests against the Georgian government. On 3 November, he stopped in front of several thousand demonstrators in Tbilisi a speech in which he called for the resignation of the president: "We should Mikheil Saakashvili say goodbye. " When leaving the podium he muttered curses that have been transferred from the speaker system on the entire place.
On 5 November, he was one of the four activists who went on hunger strike for bringing forward the parliamentary elections. In the crackdown on protests by the police on November 7, he was injured and was treated on an outpatient basis at the hospital.
Opposition front-runner
Presidential elections
In the presidential elections in Georgia on 5 January 2008, he ran for the office of head of state and won 25.7 % of the vote. He reached the second place after Mikheil Saakashvili. The campaign budget was 721 190 lari (about 465,000 U.S. dollars), to which he contributed even 93,000 lari.
Politically, he was supported by the coalition united National Council, to which the Republican Party of Georgia, the Conservative Party, the party Georgia's Way, the freedom movement ( Tavisupleba ), our own way, the people's party, the Movement for a United Georgia, the party Georgian troops and the party National Forum included.
In the event of his election victory, he announced his intention to amend the Constitution to abolish the presidential system of government in Georgia and strengthen the rights of Parliament to Western European model. He also wanted to take action against violence and oppression as a means of politics. The creation of a constitutional monarchy, he held for a constitutional policy option.
In foreign policy, aimed Gachechiladze reunification South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Georgia on the path of return of Georgian refugees, a subsequent referendum and negotiations with Russia. The former Foreign Minister of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili should be prime minister under his presidency.
Parliamentary elections
The opposition United National Council announced in February 2008, Gachechiladze will compete as the top candidate of a common opposition list for the parliamentary elections in May 2008.
Private
He is married and has three children. Family and the press call him short Gretschicha (German buckwheat). His brother is the Georgian pop singer Giorgi Gachechiladze, the (German, Stranger ) is called with artist name Uznobi.