Levan Gachechiladze

In 1999, Gachechiladze became a member of the ruling Union of Citizens of Georgia party led by president Eduard Shevardnadze and stood for election as part and parcel of the party's group of "new faces". In the same year, Gachechiladze became a member of Parliament from district 2.^[9] In September 2000 he left the ruling party and co-founded the 'New Faction', a group led by David Gamkrelidze. In June 2001, when the New Faction was absorbed into a new group called the New Rights Party (NRP), Gachechiladze became chairman of the new group.^{[citation needed]}

Gachechiladze had previously served as chairman of the Economic Policy Committee, and in this capacity initiated numerous reforms targeted at transitioning the country from a planned economy to a market one.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[10]

On 12 November 2007 Gachechiladze was named as a candidate for the January 2008 Georgian presidential election.^[11] His candidacy was supported by the 'Joint Opposition', a coalition of some ten opposition parties:^[12]

• Republican Party
• Conservative Party of Georgia
• Georgia's Way
• People's Front
• Freedom Movement
• Movement for United Georgia
• National Forum
• Georgian Troupe
• On Our Own Party

On 5 January 2008, the Georgian presidential election was held nationwide with the exception of highland village Shatili, where the polling station was not opened due to a heavy snowstorm. 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%).^[13] Official results according to Central Election Committee were 53.47% in favor of Saakashvili and 25.69% in favor of Levan Gachechiladze.^[14] What is notable though is that in Tbilisi district Gachechiladze received 43.65% of votes as opposed to Saakashvili's 35.12%, winning by far the largest district and the most educated population's vote.^[15] Despite the announcement of Saakashvili's victory, all of the opposition candidates and number of NGOs as a joint front declared the elections rigged and stated that police force was used to support this process. Similar developments took place during 2008 parliament elections, that being the reason for Levan Gachechiladze and several of his supporters to decline entry into the parliament.^{[citation needed]}

Gachechiladze led 2009 and May 2010 protest with family members, which eventually weakened Saakashvili's power and ultimately led to its handover to the opposition in 2012.^{[citation needed]}