According to sociologist Antoniy Galabov, the outcome of the presidential elections will be decided in the Constitutional Court and not at the ballot boxes. He sees targeted efforts behind controversial texts in the Electoral Code, aimed at creating the impression that the vote was compromised.

The Constitutional Court has no reasons to refute changes to the Electoral Code as unconstitutional, but the situation will be used to fuel tensions and insecurity in society, Anthoniy Galabov predicts.

“There is a campaign aimed at casting doubts at the forthcoming elections. The bluff with the ‘I do not support anyone,’ option can be compared to the election scandal with the printing house in Kostinbrod years ago and I fear that there will be serious consequences, primarily on voter turnout,” the sociologist says. “Threats of bringing the case to the Constitutional Court because of compulsory voting and other changes in the Electoral Code do give me reasons to doubt that the election process will be completed on November 13. In this case we would have to wait for the decision of the court.”

There are less than two weeks before the elections, but debates are kept outside the scope of presidential powers, Anthony Galabov says.

 “First, it is important that presidential candidates express their attitude to the mandate of Rosen Plevneliev because this will set a coordinate system, in which candidates could be placed. Views for the development of the country at the backdrop of the complicated political environment abroad should also be voiced. A conceptual model for the functioning of the presidential administration, including guarantees for its transparency and criteria for staff selection, should also be proposed.”

Sociologists say GERB candidate Tsetska Tsacheva is a major contender for the president’s position. She has voiced a view that EU sanctions against Russia should be reconsidered and also put national interests over human rights on the occasion of the return of Turkish opposition members to Ankara.

“She has extensive administrative and international experience and when it comes to sanctions, it should be clear what the greater problem for Bulgaria is. This country suffers not because of the EU sanctions but because of the counter sanctions imposed by the Russian Federation against EU countries,” Antoniy Galabov says. “There is no doubt that national security is inseparable from human rights that there must not be a choice between them. The philosophy and practice of human rights protection in this country needs rethinking. We continue to be selective when human rights are considered, and this is unacceptable in a European country. This topic has been barely discussed as well as the other serious topics. The actual debates have not started yet.”

Regarding BSP-supported candidate Rumen Radev, who made the statement that Bulgaria should reconsider its participation in NATO and the EU, the sociologist says his "parachute dropping" in politics was unfair, as he was still an army officer when this happened.

“The problem is that he is not asked the questions he needs to give answers to. If he had the support of BSP and said that we must modernize the armed forces, why did the BSP voted against increasing the budget for modernization of the army. And of course, all questions about NATO, as his claims that one can be a firm supporter of Euro-Atlantic values and at the same time not be a Russophobe are deeply wrong. Nobody talks here about pro-Russian and anti-Russian sentiments, but about specific actions of the Putin regime and these are different things.”

According to the analyst, the major question during the elections is whether the line of development of the presidential institution left by Rosen Plevneliev would be continued, or it would be changed.

English: Alexander Markov