Nov 12 (Reuters) - Georgia's opposition parties have named rival candidates to challenge President Mikhail Saakashvili in a Jan. 5 election.

Below are facts on five candidates expected to run in the presidential election.

Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia's president since 2004:

* The 39-year-old Saakashvili graduated with a law degree from Kiev University. He then received a masters degree at Columbia University, New York before entering parliament in 1995 and in January 2000 he became Minister of Justice. * In 2001 he formed and become leader of what was Georgia's biggest opposition party the United National Movement. In 2003 he was swept to power by peaceful protests that toppled former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze from the presidency. * In November 2007 he faced his biggest street protest, when opposition leaders accused him of corruption and undemocratic rule, charges he denies.

Levan Gachechiladze, a wine entrepreneur and member of parliament and presidential candidate for the main nine-party opposition coalition:

* The 43-year-old studied economics, first at university in Tbilisi and then in Belgium. In 1994 Gachechiladze set up the Georgian Wines and Spirits company (GWS) which soon became the biggest wine producer in the country. GWS sold around 90 percent of its exports to Russia and was heavily hit when Russia banned Georgian wine last year.

* Gachechiladze is now an independent member of parliament who has been at the forefront of protests against Saakashvili. He was one of dozens of hunger strikers forcibly removed from parliament's steps last week after six days of protest.

Badri Patarkatsishvili, media magnate, one of the richest men of Georgia and an independent presidential candidate:

* Patarkatsishvili, 52 -- whose name means "son of a little man" -- made his fortune in Russia during the chaotic period after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He has close links to Boris Berezovsky, the Russian tycoon who wielded huge political influence in the 1990s and now lives in self-imposed exile in London.

* He galvanised a series of protests against Saakashvili this month that ended with police closing down the tycoon's television station and using tear gas on protesters. Prosecutors named Patarkatsishvili as a suspect in a coup plot.

David Gamkrelidze, leader of New Rights party, a group not aligned to the opposition. It is pro-business and right-wing:

* The 43-year-old member of Parliament and trained doctor, established the first insurance company in Georgia, Aldagi, which has dominated the country's insurance market for years. * The New Rights party did not take part in the 2003 "Rose Revolution" which projected Saakashvili into power and has not participated in the recent wave of protests.

Shalva Natelashvili, 49, leader of Labour Party which split from the opposition coalition on Monday:

* He graduated from the Faculty of Law of Tbilisi State University. In the 1980's he worked in the Tbilisi prosecutors office.

* He founded the Labour Party in 1995 but proved unable to win enough votes to enter parliament in 1999 and 2003 elections. (Reporting and writing by Niko Mchedlishvili, editing by Ralph Boulton)

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