Prime Minister of the Republic of Georgia from 2004 until his premature death caused by a natural gas leak while he was in the home of a colleague. Zhvania served in the Georgian Parliament in 1992 as a member of former Soviet Foreign Minister and then Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze center-right party the Union For Georgian Citizens. Zhvania was a loyal protege of Shevardnadze even serving as the Georgian Parliament's chairman from 1995 until 2001 when Zhvania and another Shevardnadze allie Mikhail Saakashvili left Shevardnadze's party after it was learned that Shevardnadze was involved in a corruption scandal. Zhvania and Saakashvili formed the United Democrats Party which ran in the controversial 2003 Parliamentary elections which were largely condemned abroad and at home. After two weeks of mass protest; Shevardnadze resigned as President, and new elections were called. Zhvania served in the Interim government until Saakashvili was elected President in January 2004 when Saakashvili appointed him Prime Minister. Prior to Zhvania entering politics; Zhvania a Tblisi native was a 1988 graduate of Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University with a degree in Biology. He taught there while he was engaged in the Georgian opposition movement against the then Soviet Union. Zhvania left behind a wife and three children.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Georgia from 2004 until his premature death caused by a natural gas leak while he was in the home of a colleague. Zhvania served in the Georgian Parliament in 1992 as a member of former Soviet Foreign Minister and then Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze center-right party the Union For Georgian Citizens. Zhvania was a loyal protege of Shevardnadze even serving as the Georgian Parliament's chairman from 1995 until 2001 when Zhvania and another Shevardnadze allie Mikhail Saakashvili left Shevardnadze's party after it was learned that Shevardnadze was involved in a corruption scandal. Zhvania and Saakashvili formed the United Democrats Party which ran in the controversial 2003 Parliamentary elections which were largely condemned abroad and at home. After two weeks of mass protest; Shevardnadze resigned as President, and new elections were called. Zhvania served in the Interim government until Saakashvili was elected President in January 2004 when Saakashvili appointed him Prime Minister. Prior to Zhvania entering politics; Zhvania a Tblisi native was a 1988 graduate of Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University with a degree in Biology. He taught there while he was engaged in the Georgian opposition movement against the then Soviet Union. Zhvania left behind a wife and three children.
Bio by: John Patton
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