On 12 September, Mamuka Khazaradze, founder of the leading Georgian commercial bank, the TBC Bank, unveiled the name of his political movement in the city of Anaklia.

He chose the name “Lelo” for the movement, referencing the traditional Georgian team game Lelo Burti. Khazaradze also spoke on why he chose Anaklia, a city located near the Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia for the presentation of his movement. “We are in Anaklia…, the place where the so-called border separates us from Abkhazia, [which] is the closest point of our country to Europe,” he said. He went on to accentuate the high potential of the seaside town and the need to implement large-scale projects on site, which would contribute to regaining its place in the region and the world map for Georgia.

Khazaradze also spoke about his personal motives to create Lelo. “Many in Georgia have lost hope for a better future and are thinking of leaving the country. We must stop this,” he said, adding that the solution is to bring professionals together from different fields to “build the country.”

He also said that in the coming months his civic movement would be transformed into a political party. “We are establishing a force focused on winning the elections in 2020, we declare this very seriously. We will not cooperate with anyone. We will participate in the elections independently, without prominent politicians,” he said. At this moment the main focus of Khazaradze will be to find the leaders of the party. “We have already launched the process to find 12 leaders, 12 reformers in all fields, in healthcare, in education and others, for them to carry out major changes. The country should never be dependent on a single person, we should all fulfil our roles,” he concluded.

The first person which was recruited into the ranks of Lelo was Ana Natsvlishvili, former chairperson of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, who will act as the movement’s speaker. “In this movement, I see the real power and resources to break through the circle of mistakes and crimes and create a new reality: a state based on the recognition and protection of human dignity that will free us from the past and lead us to victory for Georgia and each of us!” she said. 

A few days earlier, Khazaradze told the press that he received a letter he claimed was written by former Interior Minister and current Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Gakharia. He added that the letter contained threats and was trying to blackmail him. His lawyer Zviad Kordzadze stated that several fingerprints were discovered on the letter during the examination in London,. He hopes that an investigation by the Prosecutors Office will be launched into the matter. The Georgian government denies Khazaradzes’s accusation.