After the events of November 7, 2007, President Mikheil Saakashvili resigned and called a snap presidential election for January 5, 2008. According to the official results, Saakashvili won again with 53.47 percent of the vote, while the opposition candidate, Levan Gachechiladze, received 25.69 percent. The opposition accused the government of election fraud and demanded that a second round be held.

In protest against the results of the 2008 presidential election, nine opposition parties supporting Gachechiladze organized a rally on January 13, 2008, at Rose Square (now First Republic Square). Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched toward Freedom Square. Their dissatisfaction was joined by supporters of other opposition parties as well.

Levan Gachechiladze presented the main demands to the public: “We demand a second round of the elections; we want criminal proceedings to be initiated against the chair of the Central Election Commission, Levan Tarkhnishvili; we want the courts to serve the interests of the people; and we want the Public Broadcaster to be returned to the people.”

The protesters dispersed that day with the understanding that the demonstrations would continue in the following days. Another gathering was announced for January 15 at the Public Broadcaster, as protesters had complaints about biased coverage.

Before January 15, Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze stated that an agreement had been reached with the opposition to change the rules for forming the Public Broadcaster’s Board of Trustees. She also said that consultations were ongoing with the opposition on seven additional issues, though neither she nor opposition leaders revealed what those discussions concerned. The protest at the Public Broadcaster took place on January 15 nonetheless.

On January 20, after Mikheil Saakashvili’s inauguration, thousands of people gathered at the Hippodrome to participate in another opposition-organized protest rally. The demand for a second round of the presidential election had shifted. The opposition announced that it would continue to pressure the authorities—including through protests—to gain leverage over key institutions, including election administrations, in order to ensure free and fair parliamentary elections in the spring.

The opposition drafted a 15-point memorandum, but since the government refused to meet their demands, another large protest was held in front of Parliament on February 15. The opposition issued an ultimatum to the government: if their demands were not met, they would launch a large-scale hunger strike and “turn all of Georgia into a city of tents.” Based on an agreement between the government and the opposition, four people arrested on November 7 were released on February 25. The protests paused for several weeks while negotiations continued.

The second wave of protests began on March 9, after the government passed a constitutional amendment on majoritarian MPs despite opposition resistance. The opposition demanded that the multi-seat majoritarian system be replaced with proportional distribution of mandates according to votes received. However, the adopted amendment increased the number of majoritarian seats from 50 to 75, meaning the 150-member Parliament would consist of 75 majoritarian and 75 proportional MPs.

Five opposition members went on hunger strike. Protesters at that time were demanding: a rerun of the presidential election; conditions for free and fair parliamentary elections; and the release of all individuals arrested in relation to the November 7 events. According to the opposition, only eight people had been released so far. The next day, six members of the New Rights party joined the hunger strike.

Later, the opposition added another demand—the resignation of Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze. “Georgia without Burjanadze” became the new slogan at the protest held in front of Parliament on the evening of March 16. More people attended this rally than previous ones, including those held when the hunger strike began. By this time, some hunger strikers had moved their protest into Burjanadze’s reception room. In total, around 60 activists were on hunger strike in front of Parliament.

The opposition called on the United States and the international community to act as mediators to defuse the crisis ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for May. On March 19, while Mikheil Saakashvili was meeting U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington, a protest was held outside the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi.

A few days later, opposition activists again gathered near Parliament. On March 25, during the first half of the day, when several hundred people were gathered, they brought long benches from a nearby park and used them to block Rustaveli Avenue. By then, two MPs from the New Rights party had ended their hunger strike due to deteriorating health, and MP Zviad Dzidziguri of the Conservative Party was hospitalized for the same reason.

On March 25, the opposition ended the 17-day hunger strike without having forced the government to make concessions on key electoral issues.

This followed a statement by President Saakashvili clearly indicating that the government did not intend to compromise with the opposition. A call from the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia urging the opposition to end the hunger strike was also made public. Opposition leaders cited the Patriarch’s appeal as the reason for stopping the protest.

They then decided to launch their parliamentary election campaign. “If the parliamentary elections on May 21 are rigged, as the January 5 elections were, the opposition will call on the people to rise up. If Saakashvili wants another revolution, he will get one, but it will not be a velvet revolution,” opposition leader Koba Davitashvili said at the final rally.