Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili მიხეილ სააკაშვილი 3rd President of Georgia In office 20 January 2008 – 17 November 2013 Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze Grigol Mgaloblishvili Nika Gilauri Vano Merabishvili Bidzina Ivanishvili Preceded by Nino Burjanadze (acting) Succeeded by Giorgi Margvelashvili In office 25 January 2004 – 25 November 2007 Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania Zurab Noghaideli Lado Gurgenidze Preceded by Nino Burjanadze (acting) Succeeded by Nino Burjanadze (acting) Personal details Born (1967-12-21) 21 December 1967 (age 47) Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union Political party United National Movement Spouse(s) Sandra Roelofs Children Eduard Nikoloz Alma mater National University of Kyiv Columbia University George Washington University International Institute of Human Rights University of the District of Columbia Religion Georgian Orthodoxy Signature Mikheil Saakashvili (Georgian: მიხეილ სააკაშვილი, IPA: [mɪχɛɪl sɑɑkʼɑʃvɪlɪ]; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian politician and was the third President of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. He is the founder and the former chairman of the United National Movement Party. Involved in national politics since 1995, he became president in January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in the November 2003 bloodless "Rose Revolution" led by Saakashvili and his political allies, Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania. He was re-elected in the Georgian presidential election on 5 January 2008. He was widely regarded as a pro-NATO and pro-West leader who spearheaded a series of political and economic reforms. In 2010, he had a 67% approval rating despite being criticized by the opposition for his alleged authoritarian tendencies and electoral fraud. On 2 October 2012, Saakashvili admitted his party's defeat in Georgia's parliamentary election against the Georgian Dream coalition led by the tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili. He was barred by the constitution of Georgia from seeking a third term in the 2013 presidential election, which was won by the Georgian Dream's candidate Giorgi Margvelashvili. Shortly after the election, Saakashvili left Georgia. In December 2013, he accepted the position of lecturer and senior statesman at Tufts University in the United States. Saakashvili energetically supported Ukraine's Euromaidan movement and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. On 13 February 2015, he was appointed by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko as head of the International Advisory Council on Reforms. Saakashvili is wanted by Georgia's new government on multiple criminal charges, which he denies as politically motivated. Some non-Georgian sources spell Saakashvili's first name via the Russian version of the name Mikhail. In Georgia, he is commonly known as Misha, a hypocorism for Mikheil.