“Ivanishvili’s oligarchic regime is planning to impose yet another new burden on the people: mandatory insurance for vehicle owners!” - Lasha Parulava, a member of the governing council of the United National Movement, said.

According to him, mandatory vehicle insurance is a corrupt arrangement between the insurance business, shielded by the banking oligarchy, and Georgian Dream, the cost of which will once again be paid by vehicle owners and drivers.

“Irakli Kobakhidze deceived the public by claiming that prices would become cheaper and that the 86% markup and corrupt share would disappear. But what did we get? Prices did not decrease; instead, they increased by almost 40% from January to August.

“Now, instead of Georgian Dream and Irakli Kobakhidze taking responsibility for this lie and failure, Ivanishvili’s oligarchic regime is planning to impose yet another new burden on the people: mandatory insurance for vehicle owners! This is a corrupt arrangement between the insurance business, shielded by the banking oligarchy, and Georgian Dream, the cost of which will once again be paid by vehicle owners.

“A similar corrupt scheme existed in Georgia before the Rose Revolution. Mikheil Saakashvili abolished this system, and the exploitation of the people stopped. Today, Georgian Dream is trying to bring back the same practice. Shevardnadze-era ‘insurance’ is returning.

“We demand that this process be halted and that the mandatory insurance bill be removed from the government’s legislative agenda.

“The same applies to vehicle technical inspections. Technical inspections in their current form and substance are a sham and have become a mechanism for exploiting the people. Ensuring that a vehicle is roadworthy is necessary, but exploiting citizens is not. The United National Movement will abolish technical inspections in their current form at the first opportunity.

“We will also halve the excise duty on fuel in order to reduce fuel prices, and dismantle the cartel and corrupt schemes existing within electricity tariffs.

“Georgian society needs a government that does not exploit people’s pockets, but makes people’s lives more affordable. Together, let us get rid of the corrupt, criminal and ‘thieving’ Georgian Dream and begin governing the country based on the interests of its citizens,” Parulava said.