TBILISI, August 20 – Levan Gachechiladze, a Georgian businessman-turned-politician who once led a united opposition challenge for the presidency, has died at the age of 61.
Gachechiladze first entered politics in 1999, winning a seat in parliament under the ruling Citizens’ Union of Georgia, then the party of President Eduard Shevardnadze. He soon broke away to co-found the New Rightists Party, and represented it in Tbilisi’s city assembly and later in the parliament.
By the mid-2000s, he had become one of the most recognizable faces of the political movement resisting then-president Mikheil Saakashvili. After splitting with the New Rightists over differences regarding the Rose Revolution, Gachechiladze continued his career as an independent.
His most high-profile moment came in the 2008 presidential election, when he ran as the joint candidate of a broad opposition coalition. He secured 25.7% of the vote, finishing second behind Saakashvili in a race that was criticized by international observers for widespread irregularities.
That same year, he briefly held a parliamentary seat representing the Joint Opposition’s, before withdrawing as part of the opposition’s boycott of the legislature.
