President Rumen Radev has defended the head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), Plamen Tonchev, whose dismissal ahead of the second round of local elections was demanded by Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov after a SANS report led to the cancellation of machine voting in the first round.

A state authority is strong when it obeys the law, not when it stands above it. I listened carefully to the Prime Minister. The SANS law clearly states the grounds for dismissing the head of the agency, and it does not list lack of confidence on the part of the prime minister. Tonchev's resignation is obviously being sought because he complied with the law, not because he acted in violation of it. According to this logic, the government should resign immediately because the vast majority of Bulgarians do not trust it, Radev said.