Centrist opposition party Lelo for Georgia has nominated candidates for Tbilisi mayor and head of Tbilisi City Assembly late yesterday, ahead of the October 2 municipal elections.
The party co-founders Ana Bibilashvili will run for Tbilisi mayor, while Badri Japaridze will fight to chair Tbilisi City Assembly.
Ana is a successful woman, mother, professional, architect and professor,” head of the party Mamuka Khazaradze stated.
He said that Lelo’s major competitors in the upcoming elections are ‘unemployment, poverty and nihilism’ and not any concrete party or politician.
Four other opposition parties, the United National Movement, Droa, European Georgia and Girchi have earlier nominated joint candidates for the positions.
The Lelo for Georgia opposition party was founded back in 2019 by founders of TBC Bank of Georgia Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.
Both decided to enter politics after they were charged with laundering 16.7 million USD in the summer of 2019.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria said in 2020 that there were ‘no signs of money laundering’ in the Khazaradze-Japaridze case.