Margvelashvili was named by the Ivanishvili-led Georgian Dream coalition as its presidential ... Giorgi Margvelashvili was born in Tbilisi in the family of Teimuraz ...
Giorgi Margvelashvili - President of Georgia
Giorgi Margvelashvili was elected President of Georgia on 27 October 2013. A former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Science in the government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, Mr. Margvelashvili is a committed democrat and reformer who revitalised the country’s education system after years of neglect. While he is not affiliated with any political party, he was nominated to be the presidential candidate of the governing Georgian Dream Coalition in May 2013, and was elected with more than 62% of the vote.
Mr. Margvelashvili’s background is in public policy, politics and academia. Before joining the Georgian Dream government after its victory in the October 2012 parliamentary elections, he was a well-known political commentator and served for more than a decade in senior positions at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), a leading Georgian institution of higher education in government, law, international affairs and journalism.
Education
Mr. Margvelashvili graduated from Tbilisi State University in 1992 with a degree in philosophy. He continued his studies at the Central European University in Prague, Czech Republic from 1993 to 1994 and the Institute of Philosophy of the Georgian Academy of Sciences from 1993 to 1996. In 1998, he received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Tbilisi State University.
Career
Mr. Margvelashvili has a life-long interest in mountaineering and in the early 1990s worked as a mountain guide and for adventure travel companies, including Caucasus Travel.
In 1993, he was a junior research fellow at the Psychology Laboratory for Marginal Conditions and the Georgian Culture Research Centre. From 1996 to 1997, he taught philosophy and culture at Tbilisi Independent University. From 1995-2000, he was a local government expert in the Tbilisi office of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the US-based organization focused on strengthening democratic institutions worldwide. For the next twelve years, from 2000 to 2012, Mr. Margvelashvili served in various leadership roles at GIPA, including as Provost from 2000 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2012, and as head of GIPA’s research department from 2006 to 2010.
Mr. Margvelashvili became briefly involved in Georgian politics prior to the November 2003 parliamentary elections, when he joined the opposition bloc led by former Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. During the Saakashvili period, he was an outspoken critic of the government of Mikheil Saakashvili, which he viewed as corrupt and authoritarian. While remaining politically independent, he advised Mr.
Ivanishvili during the Georgian Dream Coalition’s campaign for the October 2012 parliamentary elections.
Following the Coalition’s victory in these elections, Mr. Margvelashvili was appointed Minister of Education and Science by Prime Minister Ivanishvili. As Minister, Mr. Margvelashvili’s initiatives included substantially raising teacher salaries and investing in school renovations and in the provision of free school transportation. In February 2013, he was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and, in this capacity, worked closely with the Prime Minister, while continuing to fulfill his duties as Minister of Education and Science, until resigning from these positions in order to run for the October 2013 presidential elections.
Personal Life
Mr. Margvelashvili is 44 years old and unmarried, with a 20-year-old daughter, Ana, who is a student at GIPA. His partner, Maka Chichua, is an artist and actress. In his spare time, Mr. Margvelashvili enjoys hiking, tai chi, horseback riding, and spending time with friends at his country house in the Dusheti region.
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Giorgi Margvelashvili - 17.10.2013, Civil Georgia
Giorgi Margvelashvili, 44, the ruling Georgian Dream coalition's presidential candidate is a frontrunner in the upcoming election, according to all the recent public opinion polls.
In early 1990s Margvelashvili, who holds doctoral degree in philosophy from the Tbilisi State University, worked as a mountain guide at travel agency, Caucasus Travel; he joined National Democratic Institute's Tbilisi office as a program consultant in 1995 and worked there before becoming a rector of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs in 2000 - the post he held till 2006 and then again in 2010-2012.
He has never been a household name in Georgia, but was a familiar face in political circles.
Margvelashvili first became directly involved in the politics, although briefly at the time, ahead of the November, 2003 parliamentary elections, when Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze invited him in their party which was called “Burjanadze-Democrats”; in the party-list Margvelashvili was in the top ten candidates of proportional vote in November, 2003.
But after the Rose Revolution, which followed fraudulent November 2003 elections, which also resulted in repeat parliamentary vote, “Burjanadze-Democrats” merged with Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement party and Margvelashvili quit the politics.
In 2008 he joined Nino Burjanadze's "think thank" foundation after the latter quit UNM and also served as her advisor. Burjanadze, who is now Margvelashvili’s one of the competitors in the presidential race, says that Margvelashvili has not enough experience and competence to be a good president.
Margvelashvili was not directly involved in GD's election campaign in 2012 and he is not a member of any political party; he, however, was a frequent commentator on political affairs, supporting Ivanishvili and his coalition. After the October, 2012 parliamentary elections, Ivanishvili invited Margvelashvili in his cabinet as education minister and later promoted him to deputy prime minister's post after demoting from this position defense minister Irakli Alasania. At the time of his nomination as presidential candidate, in public opinion polls Margvelashvili had much lower positive performance rating than many other cabinet ministers. Margvelashvili has been campaigning actively with PM Ivanishvili also appearing by his side during number of campaign meetings, as well as in TV political ads. Margvelashvili is often saying in his campaign speeches that the October 27 will mark the “end of political cohabitation” – meaning the end of a period when, as he says, the presidency and the government will start working hand in hand to tackle challenges.
Margvelashvili’s announcement on October 17 that he will withdraw from the race in case of the runoff raised eyebrows, giving the race a new twist.
His announcement came after PM Ivanishvili said earlier on the same day that in case of Margvelashvili’s failure to win outright in the first round, he would advise him to pull out from the race and not to run in the second round. Although parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili downplayed remarks as “metaphor” which should not be taken literally, Margvelashvili reiterated on October 18 that he is absolutely sure about winning in the first round, but will withdraw from the race in case of the second round.