structural:reformatting, stylistic:tone
Rise to power

The newly independent Republic of Georgia elected as its first president a leader of the national liberation movement, Zviad Gamsakhurdia — an academic and writer who had been imprisoned by Shevardnadze's government in the late 1970s. However, Gamsakhurdia's rule ended abruptly in January 1992, when he was deposed in a bloody coup d'état. Shevardnadze was appointed Speaker of the Georgian parliament in March 1992 and as speaker of parliament in November; both of these posts were equivalent to that of president. When the presidency was restored in November 1995, he was elected with 70% of the vote. He secured a second term in April 2000 in an election that was marred by widespread claims of vote-rigging.