Davit Gamkrelidze
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

David Gamkrelidze or Davit Gamqrelidze ( ka, დავით გამყრელიძე; born April 2, 1964, in
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
) is a Georgian
politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
, leader of the New Rights Party of Georgia, Member of Parliament since 1999, member of committee for defense and security, and Chairman of the
Centre-Right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
Opposition Group in the
Parliament of Georgia The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members elected through fully pr ...
. He also contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came fourth with the 4.02% of the votes cast.


Early life and education

David Gamkrelidze was born on April 2, 1964, in a family of
geologists A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the field and the laboratory. Geolog ...
,
academicians An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...
of Georgia’s Academy of Sciences, and Georgian Geological School representative Erekle Gamkrelidze and of Ia Gobronidze. His grandfather, Petre Gamkrelidze, was one of the founders of the Georgian Geological School. Gamkrelidze graduated from the Tbilisi 55th secondary school. In 1982 he became a student of
Tbilisi State Medical University Tbilisi State Medical University (TSMU) ( ka, თბილისის სახელმწიფო სამედიცინო უნივერსიტეტი (თსსუ), tr) is a leading medical university in Tbilisi, Georgia. M ...
, Faculty of Pediatrics. He was a holder of Tarkhnishvili Scholarship, member of the Student’s Medical Council, and frequent participant of various students’ international conferences and Olympiads. In 1988 Gamkrelidze, along with his friends, established the Christian-Democratic Association, which was later renamed the Christian-Democratic Union.He took active part in the March–April 1989 protests against the
Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...
. After the
April 9 tragedy April 9 Tragedy (also known as the massacre of Tbilisi or Tbilisi tragedy) refers to the events in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet, pro-independence demonstration was crushed by the Soviet A ...
, Gamkrelidze joined the newly established Rustaveli Society. In the spring of 1989, with the purpose of coordinating the National Liberation Movement, the National Forum was established. The Christian-Democratic Union was represented at the Forum by David Gamkrelidze and Irakli Kakabadze. In June of the same year, the first delegation of the National Liberation Movement traveled to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
to celebrate the Independence Day of Georgia at the invitation of the Georgian Diaspora living there. Gamkrelidze was a member of the delegation as well.


Entrepreneurship

After the collapse of the
Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
regime in 1990 and Georgia’s eventual re-gaining of independence, Gamkrelidze concluded he had exhausted his function in the National Liberation Movement and moved to entrepreneurial activities. He and his friends established the first ever
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
company in Georgia, the Aldagi. Very soon, Aldagi became the flagman of the insurance industry in Georgia. In 1999, Gamkrelidze, as the President of Aldagi, was named among the ten most successful businessmen of Georgia.


Political activity

In 1998 he was elected member of the
Tbilisi City Assembly The Tbilisi Sakrebulo ( ka, თბილისის საკრებულო, tr), is a representative body in the city government of Tbilisi, Georgia. It is also known in English as the Tbilisi City Council or Tbilisi Assembly. Histo ...
, local governing authority of the capital of Georgia. For the then ruling party ( Citizens’ Union of Georgia), in order to win the general elections badly needed a certain number of successful people in its electoral party list. David Gamkrelidze, who did not hold the membership of this party, agreed to take part in the elections along with other businessmen . On October 31, 1999, Gamkrelidze became a member of the
Parliament of Georgia The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members elected through fully pr ...
. At the first session sitting, he got elected as chairman of the Healthcare and Social Issues Committee. Gradually, David Gamkrelidze and his friends realized that the ruling party did not actually care for their professionalism and commitment to the matters of national importance. The period of disenchantment began, which reached its peak in the spring of 2000. That was right after the ruling party presented to the Parliament the budget for ratification in 1999 and demanded from the majority of the party to endorse it. David Gamkrelidze and Levan Gachechiladze resigned in sign of protest and called for creation of a committee that would investigate the budget deficit of 1999. On May 17, 2000, a special commission was formed with David Gamkrelidze at the chairmanship to investigate the budget deficit of 1999. In six months, David Gamkrelidze presented to the Parliament a conclusion and said the whole truth as to what the reason for the 1999 drastic budget deficit in actuality was. On September 8, 2000, with the purpose to overcome the critical situation prevalent in the country and in order to raise public awareness in this regard, 35 professionals established a public organization – the “New Movement”. David Gamkrelidze was one of its founders and an active member. On September 17, 2000, the “New Faction” Group was formed in the Parliament. David Gamkrelidze was elected chairman of the group. The “New Faction”, despite its smallness, significantly changed the situation in the Parliament. It truly said a totally different and new word in Georgia’s politics.


New Rights party

On June 15, 2001, on the basis of the “New Faction”, New Movement and Georgian Neo-Conservative Party, a political party was created. The party was called the New Rights of Georgia. The founding congress elected David Gamkrelidze as its co-chairman. Within the year after its founding, the New Rights reached high results. On June 2, 2002, the New Rights won the first place in the local elections all across Georgia, and the third place on Tbilisi level. Gamkrelidze personally headed the party’s election campaign. After winning the local elections, the party began to prepare for the upcoming parliamentary elections. In September, 2002 Gamkrelidze and his colleagues submitted to the Parliament of Georgia a decree regarding Georgia’s accession to
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
as a foreign policy priority, and the declaration was unanimously adopted. This was the first open statement about Georgia’s willingness to join NATO. On June 27, 2003, at the Party 2nd Congress Gamkrelidze was unanimously elected as chairman and leader. During the
Rose Revolution The Rose Revolution or Revolution of Roses ( ka, ვარდების რევოლუცია, tr) was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the ...
, the results of the parliamentary elections of November 2, 2003, in which the New Rights overcame the 7-percent threshold, were abolished, and new general elections were called. Gamkrelidze was in charge of the Industrial’s and New Right’s election campaign for the March 28, 2004 elections. From the so-called non-revolutionary parties, only the New Rights and their coalition with another party of centre-right orientation, the Industrials, were able to overcome the 7-percent threshold. In April, 2004 Gamkrelidze became member of the Parliament second time. He headed the Right Opposition Group and was a member of the Defense and Security Committee, as well as a member of the Delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly. On June 3, 2006, Gamkrelidze was re-elected as the New Rights Party chairman at the 3rd Party Congress. On December 23, 2019, the New Rights party merged with Mamuka Khazaradze's Lelo and Davit Usupashvili's
Development Movement The Development Movement ( ka, შენების მოძრაობა, tr) was a political movement in Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded by former speaker of Parliament of Georgia David Usupashvili and former members of Republican ...
to form a new political union called
Lelo for Georgia Lelo burti, Lelo for Georgia ( ka, ლელო საქართველოსთვის, tr, ) is a Liberalism, liberal political party in Georgia (country), Georgia. It was established in 2019 by two businessmen Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri ...
. The inaugural congress was held on December 22, where Mamuka Khazaradze was elected chairman, Badri Japaridze as secretary general, and Davit Usupashvili as chairman of the political council.


January 2008 presidential elections

On November 24, 2007, on the 4th Extraordinary Congress of the New Rights Party, Gamkrelidze was nominated as a candidate for early Presidential elections to be held on January 5, 2008. His candidature officially supported by four political parties (New Rights Party, Industrialists, National Democrats and Christian Democrats). He advocates the establishment of a
constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...
through a referendum.


2024 parliamentary elections

On August 15, 2024, the coalition
Strong Georgia Strong Georgia (SG; Georgian: ძლიერი საქართველო, romanized: ''dzlieri sakartvelo'') is an informal political coalition of pro-European political parties in Georgia. Its platform has generally been placed on the cent ...
officially opened its election headquarters, led by Davit Gamkrelidze. During the opening ceremony,
Mamuka Khazaradze Mamuka Khazaradze ( ka, მამუკა ხაზარაძე; born 29 December 1966) is a Georgian politician and entrepreneur. He is the Chairman of Lelo for Georgia, a centrist political party, full member of the ALDE Party in the Europ ...
, the leader of Strong Georgia, shared his excitement about the platform's growth and announced the relocation to the new headquarters. Khazaradze praised Gamkrelidze as a long-time friend and a dedicated professional, highlighting his consistent support and leadership in critical times. He expressed gratitude to Gamkrelidze for taking on the role of leading the election staff and welcomed him to the team. However, Gamkrelidze clarified that this role does not mark his return to politics. "I am not planning to become an MP or continue my political career. My involvement will be limited to leading the team during these critical times," Gamkrelidze explained.


Family

David Gamkrelidze has a wife, Marina Madichi, and two children, Erekle and Nino. He speaks Georgian,
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
and English.


See also

* Monarchism in Georgia


References


External links


The official site of David Gamkrelidze, Presidential Candidate for GeorgiaThe official site of the New Rights Party of Georgia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamkrelidze, David 1964 births Living people Businesspeople from Tbilisi Democracy activists from Georgia (country) New Rights Party politicians Politicians from Tbilisi Tbilisi State Medical University alumni