the split of Girchi in December 2020 following the departure of Zurab Japaridze, Szabo remained in the party, backing Iago Khvichia's chairmanship. Member of Parliament During the 2020 parliamentary elections, Szabo was in sixth position in Girchi's electoral list. While the party won four seats, he became a member of Parliament on November 19, 2021 after the resignation of Zurab Japaridze. Since then, he has been a member of the European Integration Committee, the Defense and Security Committee, and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee. Though he caucuses with the parliamentary opposition along with the three other Girchi MPs, he has been at times critical of other opposition parties, notably when the latter boycotted working groups set up on internal reforms asked by the European Commission. He was one of two MPs from his party to vote for Shalva Papuashvili as Speaker of Parliament. In 2022, he came out against the ruling Georgian Dream party's bill on "deoligarchization", a reform proposal that would have introduced legislation similar to that of Ukraine, arguing that the text of the law was flawed and "still left the opportunity for one-man rule". During the 2021 local elections, Szabo headed Girchi's electoral list for the Tbilisi City Assembly, though the party failed to gather votes. Political views Foreign policy Herman Szabo is a member of the European Integration Committee in Parliament and supports Georgia's accession to the European Union. A self-avowed pro-Western politician, he has called the United States "Georgia's strongest friend". During the 2019 anti-Russia large-scale demonstrations that took place in Tbilisi, Szabo organized a separate protest in front of the Georgian Orthodox Church, accusing the religious organization of having close ties to Moscow. During those protests, he called Russia an "enemy". Drug policy A libertarian, Herman Szabo supports the liberalization of drug policy in Georgia. He has called for the decriminalization of the use and cultivation of cannabis and taken part in several pro-legalization rallies. In 2019, he criticized a law that established a one-year sentencing guideline for people driving under the influence of marijuana. Military conscription After graduating from university in 2012, Szabo was conscripted into the Georgian Defense Forces for 12 months and, although he claims having shot his firearm only 19 times, he received the rank of "gunner". His time in the armed services made him strongly opposed to the conscription system in Georgia, arguing that military participation should be voluntary.