"leadership ‘allocates resources in order to generate the loyalty and support it needs to stay in power As recently as 2003, according to the World Bank, corruption was an everyday part of Georgian life, with citizens reporting bribery as a regular occurrence. That changed with the 2003 Rose Revolution, which ousted President Shevardnadze, and which is widely considered a reaction to the corruption and poor governance under Shevardnadze. After Mikheil Saakashvili won 96% of the vote in the 2004 elections, he instituted drastic anti-corruption reforms. This including firing the entire Ministry of Education staff. Georgia adopted the anti-corruption mechanisms of"
"elections, Eduard Shevardnadze resigned as president on November 23, 2003, in the bloodless Rose Revolution. The interim president was the speaker of the outgoing parliament (whose replacement was annulled), Nino Burjanadze. On January 4, 2004 Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of the United National Movement won the country's presidential election and was inaugurated on January 25. Fresh parliamentary elections were held on March 28, 2004, where the United National Movement's parliamentary faction, the National Movement - Democrats (NMD), secured the vast majority of the seats (with ca. 75% of the votes). Only one other party reached the 7% threshold: the Rightist Opposition"
"November 2003 political crisis that ended in the forced resignation of President Shevardnadze. The opposition parties strongly contested the outcome of the November 2, 2003 parliamentary elections, which local and international observers criticised for numerous irregularities. After the fall of Shevardnadze, the party joined forces with the United Democrats and the Union of National Solidarity to promote Saakashvili as the principal opposition candidate in the presidential elections of January 4, 2004, which he won by an overwhelming majority. The United National Movement and the United Democrats amalgamated on February 5, 2004; the UNM retained its name but its parliamentary faction"
"The parliamentary elections of 2 November 2003 were widely condemned by local and international observers as being grossly rigged by the government. In response, Zhvania and other opposition figures called for mass protests against Shevardnadze. Two weeks of massive popular protests followed, forcing Shevardnadze's resignation on 23 November. He was replaced on an interim basis by Zhvania's successor as parliamentary speaker, Nino Burjanadze. Zhvania himself became a minister in the transitional government prior to fresh presidential elections held on 4 January 2004, which were won by Saakashvili. In February 2004 according to the proposal of President Saakashvili Zhvania was elected"
"was named the National Movement - Democrats (NMD). The movement's main political priorities include raising pensions and providing social services to the poor, its main base of support; fighting corruption; and increasing state revenue. The 2004 presidential election were carried out on 4 January 2004. The election was an outcome of the bloodless Rose Revolution and a consequent resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze. It is well known for a very high level of electoral turnout and also for the number of votes cast for one particular presidential candidate — Mikheil Saakashvili (96%). All other candidates received less than 2% of"
"in strong opposition to the Rose Revolution, declared a state of emergency immediately after Eduard Shevardnadze's ousting on November 23, 2003. Following negotiations with central authorities, the state of emergency was temporarily canceled on January 3, 2004, just one day before the presidential election. The state of emergency was renewed on January 7 and was followed by the crackdown of an oppositional demonstration. On January 19, dozens were injured as a result of clashes between protesters and police in the southern Adjaran village of Gonio. The protesters demanded the resignation of Aslan Abashidze. In the wake of Abashidze's visit to"
"2003 Rose Revolution, which brought Mikhail Saakashvili, a pro-western president to power. Among others, his wish for Georgia to join NATO and the EU, as well as seeking greater economic and military ties with the West, irked Russia as it marked a loss of Russian influence in the region. Since then, several crises, incidents and accusations have succeeded each other: the 2004 Adjara crisis, the 2006 North Ossetia sabotages, the 2006 Russian ban of Moldovan and Georgian wines, the 2006 Kodori crisis, the 2006 Georgian-Russian espionage controversy and the March 2007 Georgia helicopter attack incident. Vano Merabishvili, Georgia’s interior minister,"
"percent of votes, were dismissed from Parliament, as Mikheil Saakashvili staged a coup d’état (Rose Revolution) and raided the first session of the newly elected Parliament. The fresh elections on March 28, 2004 were conducted with a number of grave election irregularities and they were again obstructed to enter the Parliament. Mikheil Saakashvili had even declared before the election took place that he would not allow the counter-revolutionists like Georgian Labour Party to enter Parliament. Georgian Labor Party appealed these processes in Strasbourg-based European Court for Human Rights which issued its decision on July 8, 2008 concluding that these developments"
"of Mikheil Saakashvili’s newly formed opposition National Movement. He was energetically involved in the protest movement following the November 2003 parliamentary elections which led to Shevardnadze’s resignation in the bloodless Rose Revolution. After Saakashvili's ascent to the presidency, Merabishvili served as the National Security Advisor and Secretary of the National Security Council from January until June 2004 when he was appointed as Minister of State Security. In December 2004, the Ministry of State Security was merged with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of which Merabishvili was placed in charge. As interior minister, Merabishvili presided over police reform and a crackdown"
"violent coup d'état"". On November 23, 2003, immediately after Shevardnadze's fall, Aslan Abashidze declared a state of emergency in the region. Nevertheless, Adjara took part in the Georgian presidential elections of January 4, 2004, won by Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili ordered the Adjarian leader to comply with the Georgian constitution and start disarming. In May 2004, Abashidze claimed that Georgian forces were preparing to invade. His forces blew up bridges connecting the region with the rest of Georgia. The state of emergency was followed by the dispersal of local oppositional demonstrations as of May 4. This proved a catalyst for even"
"a focus for part of the Georgian reformists leaders. In June 2002, he was elected as the Chairman of the Tbilisi Assembly (""Sakrebulo"") following an agreement between the United National Movement and the Georgian Labour Party. This gave him a powerful new platform from which to criticize the government. Georgia held parliamentary elections on 2 November 2003 which were denounced by local and international observers as being grossly rigged. Saakashvilli claimed that he had won the elections (a claim supported by independent exit polls), and urged Georgians to demonstrate against Shevardnadze's government and engage in nonviolent civil disobedience against the"
"role in Georgian politics until his death in 2005. 1995 he became the chairman of parliament and maintained the post till his resignation in 1999, which was followed with discharge of other ministers, whom Zhvania suspected in Corruption. From 1993 till 2003 Zhvania remained in opposition fighting against Shevardandze's government. In 2003, Zhvania united with other opposition leaders, mainly Burdjanadze and Saakashvili, held non-violent protests against the government. Protests ended with resignation of Shevardnadze and election of Saakashvili as the president. Zhvania became prime minister and served the post until his death in 2005. Zhvania was born in Tbilisi into"
"authorities. Saakashvili's UNM and Burdjanadze-Democrats united to demand the ouster of Shevardnadze and the rerun of the elections. Massive political demonstrations were held in Tbilisi in November, with over 100,000 people participating and listening to speeches by Saakashvili and other opposition figures. The Kmara (""Enough!"") youth organization (a Georgian counterpart of the Serbian ""Otpor!"") and several NGOs, like Liberty Institute, were active in all protest activities. After an increasingly tense two weeks of demonstrations, Shevardnadze resigned as President on 23 November, to be replaced on an interim basis by parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze. While the revolutionary leaders did their best"
"2007 crisis, in response to which President Mikheil Saakashvili, then serving his first term in office, brought forward the elections from the original date in autumn 2008. Saakashvili won the election with 53.47% of the votes in an election described in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election observation mission report as ""the first genuinely competitive post-independence presidential election"", which ""was in essence consistent with most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections"". At the same time, the mission ""revealed significant challenges which need to be addressed urgently."" In the October 2012 parliamentary"
"Burjanadze also left the Citizens' Union to join forces with Zhvania and, eventually, with Saakashvili. By June 2003, five opposition parties had established a United National Movement to provide a focus for opposition to the Citizens' Union. The Citizens' Union was at the centre of the political crisis of November 2003, when parliamentary elections held on November 2 produced results that were widely regarded as rigged. On November 23, massive popular demonstrations forced Shevardnadze to resign. The election results were subsequently annulled and fresh elections were scheduled for 2004. The party was a consultative member of the Socialist International. Union"
"ended with the defeat of Gamsakhurdia's Megrelian supporters. Even so, this region was unmanageable by the central government throughout the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze (1992–2003). Stability in the region is further deteriorated by the fact that the Georgian refugees from the Abkhazian war zone (who are considered by Georgians as victims of ethnic cleansing) are mostly Megrelians. In 2004, following the Rose Revolution of November 2003, newly elected Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, who vowed to resolve the conflict with the breakaway region of Abkhazeti solely by peaceful means, disarmed groups of Megrelians who tried to fight a guerrilla war against"
"and 13 March 2005 failed to comply with commitments to free and fair elections, however there were improvements over the 2000 elections, notably the use of indelible ink, transparent ballot boxes, and generally good access by election observers. Sporadic protests against perceived manipulation and fraud during the elections of February 27, 2005, erupted into widespread calls for the government to resign, which started in the southern provinces. On March 24, 15,000 pro-opposition demonstrators in Bishkek called for the resignation of the President and his regime. Protesters seized the main government building, and Akayev hurriedly fled the country, first to neighboring"
"from Grozny (Chechen Republic) to Tbilisi and renaming a major road in the capital after Gamsakhurdia. He also released 32 Gamsakhurdia supporters (political prisoners) imprisoned by the Shevardnadze government in 1993–94. In the first months of his presidency, Saakashvili faced a major political crisis in the southwestern Autonomous Republic of Adjara run by an authoritarian regional leader, Aslan Abashidze, who largely ignored the central Georgian government and was viewed by many as a pro-Russian politician. The crisis threatened to develop into an armed confrontation, but Saakashvili's government managed to resolve the conflict peacefully, forcing Abashidze to resign on 6 May"
"broke with then-President Eduard Shevardnadze and resigned from the post on November 1, 2001. At the close of a ""marathon"" session, Nino Burjanadze was elected speaker on November 10, 2001. She was the speaker until the parliament elected in 2008 convened, as she had chosen not to run in the 2008 parliamentary elections. Davit Bakradze, who headed the ruling National Movement's party list in the 2008 parliamentary elections, was elected Speaker of the 2008 parliament. After 2016 parliamentary election, David Usupashvili was replaced by Irakli Kobakhidze. According to the Constitution, a Parliamentary committee, a Parliamentary faction, a member of the"
"Chairman of Faction of the United Democrats of Parliament of Georgia in 2002, subsequently playing an active role in the Rose Revolution in November 2003. In 2003 parliamentary elections, Baramidze was re-elected from the same district of Tbilisi. With the new government in power in late 2003, he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia. He was seen as a member of the government faction grouped around the then Prime Minister (and Rose Revolution leader) Zurab Zhvania that were seen to be in opposition to the President Mikheil Saakashvili. As such he publicly cast doubt upon the official explanation"
"president of Ukraine. Yanukovych was more supportive of Moscow, and Ukraine quickly received a significant reduction in natural gas prices. The Rose Revolution in Georgia brought Mikhail Saakashvili to power as the third president of Georgia. Saakashvili wanted to bring Georgia into NATO and the EU while also being a heavy supporter of the U.S. led war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia would soon implement a number of different sanctions on Georgia. The Russian state gas monopoly, Gazprom, increased the price of natural gas going to Georgia from $50/TCM to $235/TCM. Russia also used trade sanctions on impact the Georgian"
"2003 parliamentary election was approaching and many Georgians feared the government was ready to resort to election fraud. On April 14, 2003, Kmara made its first major appearance, staging a march of some 200 students from the Tbilisi State University to the State Chancellery, chanting their slogan ""kmara"" and demanding resignation of the ""corrupt government"" and President Shevardnadze. Since then, Kmara conducted several anti-government actions, drawing criticism from Shevardnadze's allies, who, initially suggested that the movement was financed by the ""Russian special services"". On August 6, 2003, police force was used to disperse the Kmara rally, protesting against the arrival"
"an ambition to join both NATO and the EU. In 2002, the United States sent hundreds of Special Operations Forces to train the Military of Georgia—a programme known as the Georgia Train and Equip Program. Perhaps most significantly, the country secured a $3 billion project for a Caspian-Mediterranean pipeline (Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline) A powerful coalition of reformists headed by Mikheil Saakashvili and Zurab Zhvania united to oppose Shevardnadze's government in the November 2, 2003 parliamentary elections. The elections were widely regarded as blatantly rigged, including by OSCE observers; in response, the opposition organised massive demonstrations in the streets of Tbilisi. After"
"demonstrators. In September 2012, during Saakashvili's presidency, a video taken inside Tbilisi prison Gldani #8 showing prisoners being beaten and sodomized was released to the public. Georgian Minister of Correction, Probation and Legal Assistance Khatuna Kalmakhelidze was forced to resign over the scandal. Human rights organizations including the U.N. Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement expressing outrage over the video. On 2 October 2012, Saakashvili admitted defeat in Georgia's parliamentary election against Bidzina Ivanishvili in the election the day before. He was barred from seeking a third term in the 2013 presidential election. Saakashvili left"
"organized by the government, citing financial difficulties. Shevardnadze's successor as President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, restored, in 2004, tradition of holding military parades, which was used as a venue to exhibit new equipment of the Georgian Armed Forces. 26 May 2004 saw the largest ever military parade in Georgia. During Saakashvili's second term of presidency, the Independence Day celebrations were overshadowed by political instability; in 2008 and 2009 large opposition rallies in central Tbilisi limited the scale of the celebrations and in 2011 an attempt by part of the opposition at obstructing a military parade planned for 26 May led"
"2004 Adjara crisis The Adjara crisis refers to a political crisis in Georgia's Adjaran Autonomous Republic, then led by Aslan Abashidze, who refused to obey the central authorities after President Eduard Shevardnadze's ousting during the Rose Revolution of November 2003. The crisis threatened to develop into military confrontation as both sides mobilized their forces at the internal border. However, Georgia's post-revolutionary government of President Mikheil Saakashvili managed to avoid bloodshed and with the help of Adjaran opposition reasserted its supremacy. Abashidze left the region in exile in May 2004 and was succeeded by Levan Varshalomidze. Adjaran leader Aslan Abashidze, being"
"endured for two weeks from December 1991 to January 1992 (when pro-Gamsakhurdia and Opposition forces clashed), Tbilisi became the scene of frequent armed confrontations among various mafia clans and illegal business operators. Even during the Shevardnadze Era (1993–2003), crime and corruption became rampant at most levels of society. Many segments of society became impoverished because of unemployment caused by the crumbling economy. Average citizens of Tbilisi started to become increasingly disillusioned with the existing quality of life in the city (and in the nation in general). Mass protests took place in November 2003 after falsified parliamentary elections forced more than"
"from 1999 until he resigned his position in the legislature in 2001. Magradze withdrew into opposition to Shevardnadze and supported the 2003 Rose Revolution which forced him to resign. By 2009, he had joined the opposition to President Mikheil Saakashvili and featured prominently in April 2009 rallies demanding Saakashvili's resignation. Since 1997 to 2010, Magradze is the President of the Georgian PEN club. He has been awarded several Georgian and international literary prizes and the Georgian Order of Honor. His poems have been translated into English by the Poetry Translation Centre, German, Italian, Russian, and Armenian languages. David Magradze David"
"the power of Saakashvili comes to an end. We'll force him by a peaceful but nation-wide protest to resign,"" Beselia said on 13 March. Salome Zourabichvili stressed on 8 April, that the demonstrators will remain on the streets until the president steps down. The date of 9 April 2008, was chosen because it will be the 20-year anniversary of the day when 20 people died as Soviet Red Army troops dispersed a pro-independence rally in Tblisi. Opposition parties have accused Saakashvili of concentrating power to himself, using riot police to crush opposition rallies in 2007 and for the disaster of"
"forced President Askar Akayev's resignation on 4 April 2005. Opposition leaders formed a coalition, and a new government was formed under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Prime Minister Feliks Kulov. The nation's capital was looted during the protests. Political stability appeared to be elusive, however, as various groups and factions allegedly linked to organized crime jockeyed for power. Three of the 75 members of Parliament elected in March 2005 were assassinated, and another member was assassinated on 10 May 2006 shortly after winning his murdered brother's seat in a by-election. All four are reputed to have been directly involved in major"
"husband in 1995 (she herself was seriously wounded in the attack), she was elected Chairperson of the NDPG. Prior to the 2003 parliamentary elections, she became a spokesperson of the pro-governmental bloc ""For a New Georgia"". She called on President Eduard Shevardnadze to use tough measures against the mass demonstrations that led to Georgia's Rose Revolution in November 2003. After Shevardnadze's ouster, she resigned as chairperson of the NDPG and formed an NGO to oppose Mikheil Saakashvili's government. Currently she plays no significant role in the nation's political life. Irine Sarishvili-Chanturia Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia (b. 24 December 1963, Tbilisi), is a"
"deputies from the ruling party in 2000. The first group to leave the CUG represented the business community and would go on to form the New Rights Party (NRP) in 2000. This began the collapse of the party, as numerous party officials and deputies defected to join or form other parties. Eduard Shevardnadze himself resigned from the chairmanship of the CUG in September 2001. Fatefully, Mikheil Saakashvili (the Minister of Justice) left the ruling party in September and would form the National Movement opposition party one month later. The defections continued for the next two years, and left the Citizens'"
"an early presidential election for 5 January 2008. He also proposed to hold a referendum in parallel to snap presidential elections about when to hold parliamentary polls – in spring as pushed for by the opposition parties, or in late 2008. It is said to have been the worst political crisis in Georgia since the Rose Revolution in 2003 that brought Saakashvili's government to power in the first place. Georgia in 2003 underwent a change of leadership that saw the coming to power of Mikheil Saakashvili in 2004. Saakashvili, a U.S. trained lawyer and staunch advocate for closer integration with"