Lelo’s Datunashvili: Ivanishvili regime does not care about interests of citizens, it cares about accumulating its own wealth 

“Georgian Dream is a political force whose only interest is to extract as much money as possible from the pockets of Georgian citizens and then waste it pointlessly and spend it on corruption,” Lelo member Tazo Datunashvili said.

According to Datunashvili, the sharp increase in the cost of basic state services since 2021 is part of this policy.

“The Ivanishvili regime has doubled the costs of obtaining an identity card, registering a business and registering a vehicle; it has tripled the cost of obtaining a driving license and registering property; and it has increased the cost of a passport by 50%,” Datunashvili said.

He also criticized a requirement introduced by the Public Registry, under which more than 25,000 entrepreneurs were required to update information about their companies.

“More than 25,000 entrepreneurs spent over GEL 4 million simply updating their company information — an update that had no substantive purpose. In other words, the state collected more than GEL 4 million from Georgian citizens for nothing,” he said.

Datunashvili questioned why the cost of state services should increase when, unlike fuel or imported goods, such services are not directly affected by international supply chains.

“If the increase in the price of petrol and diesel is blamed on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz or developments in Iran, and if rising food prices are attributed to the fact that we are an import-dependent country and cannot produce enough locally, then a simple question arises: who is responsible, other than the Ivanishvili regime, for the rising cost of state services, which require neither water, nor bread, nor fuel, nor imports? Who is responsible — aliens or reptilians?” he said.

Datunashvili also pointed to state budget figures on fines and penalties as what he described as another example of the government “robbing” the Georgian people.

“According to the latest statistics covering the first six months of the year, GEL 127 million was collected in fines and penalties in the 2026 state budget during the first six months, which is 152% more than in the same period last year,” he said.

According to Datunashvili, the scale of what he described as the state’s “exploitation” of Georgian citizens has reached unprecedented levels.

“The corrupt Ivanishvili regime is getting richer, among other things, by imposing such pointless and harmful expenses on Georgian citizens. Corrupt representatives of the Ivanishvili regime are getting richer, investment is still not coming into the country, salaries are still not increasing, pensions are rising by only GEL 20, which is then eaten up by inflation, while tens and hundreds of millions of lari are being taken from citizens’ pockets through various means,” Datunashvili said.

“We must understand that the Ivanishvili regime does not care about the interests of Georgian citizens. It does not care or take an interest in how the average Georgian lives; it cares about accumulating its own wealth by adding such pointless expenses to our citizens’ burden,” he added.