Saba Buadze quits Lelo party but vows to stay in politics

Former Lelo member Saba Buadze has announced he was leaving the party entirely but plans to remain active in politics and seek allies to build what he described as a “rational alternative” to Georgia’s current political climate.

In a statement on social media on Tuesday, Buadze said he had formally ended his membership in Lelo after previously stepping down from party positions in July, when party leaders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze were still in detention.

“Now that Mamuka and Badri are free, I want to say I have fully left Lelo,” he wrote, thanking them and other colleagues with whom he co-founded the party six years ago.

Buadze said that despite differences in views, his time in Lelo had been a valuable experience, and he would now focus on uniting like-minded people to create “an alternative that replaces the prevailing hysteria in Georgian politics with sound reasoning.”