Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Politicians in Bulgaria find it increasingly difficult to manage what is happening in the country

Oppositions between parties give us an opportunity to reveal the possible dependencies of politicians

Photo: BTA

The second caretaker cabinet, headed by Dimitar Glavchev, was sworn in before the National Assembly. The main task of the team of caretaker ministers will again be the holding of fair elections, with the next early parliamentary vote scheduled by the president for October 27. Glavchev's government must also prepare the country's draft budget for 2025.

The temporary power that has become a characteristic feature of the political situation in Bulgaria is certainly wearing out people's patience. According to sociologist Ivo Zhelev, it is increasingly difficult for the parties to manage what is happening in the country:

Ivo Zhelev
"GERB continues to try to behave as the most systematic and stable party, a guarantor of stability in the state. This role of Boyko Borisov, regardless of whether they recognize it, is still given to him. I don't see anything meaningful from the other political forces as actions and policies. I see a chaos with the PP-DB, the MRF are extremely busy with their internal conflicts, while the BSP is trying to show how different the current interim leadership is from Kornelia Ninova."

On the other hand, we are witnessing further doubts on the part of the parties regarding the fairness of the upcoming early elections. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has a leading role in ensuring the integrity of the vote, so attention was focused on the person to head the department.

Ivaylo Mirchev
"It is possible to counteract, but it is a matter of the minister's will, not the quality of the policemen's work, because they know very well what they have to do. The minister must say, "We must counteract the bought vote". When the minister doesn't say it, but says the opposite quietly, "We are protecting these people", this does not happen", Ivaylo Mirchev from "Yes, Bulgaria" explained in an interview for the BNR and clarified that the new interior minister should be given time to prove that he has the will to struggle with the bought vote.

In his last statement at the handing over of the post to his successor Atanas Ilkov, the previous Minister of the Interior, Kalin Stoyanov, denied that he allowed manipulations during the vote on June 9 this year and assured that he was always the minister of internal affairs and of the Bulgarian citizens and was always there for them when they needed him. It was Kalin Stoyanov who became the bone of contention in the composition of the caretaker cabinet with the Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman of the Audit Chamber Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, and subsequently it came to the constitution of the second official government of Dimitar Glavchev.

Georgi Kiryakov
"The caretaker cabinet has great powers, almost the same as in a regular cabinet, when we are in crisis conditions", political scientist Georgi Kiryakov recalls. "Caretaker cabinets should act like regular ones, but not tilt the scales in one direction or another in favor of one or another political subject or leader, as is happening now with Kalin Stoyanov."

The real problem in the political reality in Bulgaria at the moment is the lack of a goal we want to strive at, as well as the fixation on specific individuals around whom the political conversation revolves, but they do not exhaust it", political scientist Mila Moshelova noted to BNR.

Mathematician and former CEC member Mihail Konstantinov made another appeal to politicians:

Mihail Konstantinov
"Bulgarian politicians have a duty to the Bulgarian people. I appeal to our politicians to explain to the people what they intend to do if they have to fall on their knees before their people. It cannot continue like this any longer. With their ugly behavior, the politicians are pushing Bulgarians away from the elections", pointed out Mihail Konstantinov to BNR.

Whether they will listen to him and yet there is something beyond the confrontations and recriminations between the individual parties will be seen in the election campaign, which will begin in about a month. Yet the voters, perhaps, have some benefit from the observed discord:

Mila Moshelova
"The opportunity we have is to see the depth of these dependencies and to see the positioning that the political parties will allow themselves to do", Mila Moshelova is convinced. "As things look at the moment and what the PP-DB are saying, it seems that Borisov and Peevski continue to reach a consensus on the appointment of the caretaker government. If that is the case, maybe we have an opportunity to see, or at least Boyko Borisov and GERB have an opportunity to show that they are moving away from Delyan Peevski in some way."


Compiled by Joan Kolev


Photos: BTA, BGNES, facebook.com/george.kiryakov.7, Ani Petrova - BNR


Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Nikolay Markov

Consultations with the President concluded, Velichie wants a programmatic cabinet

In talks with the President, we proposed a programmatic government with a clear programme. As the smallest party, we have no right to form it, but we want to know what this government will do, what commitments it will make and in what time frame. So..

published on 6/26/24 4:36 PM
Rumen Radev

President continues consultations on new cabinet

As required by the Constitution, President Rumen Radev is holding consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups in the 50th National Assembly before handing over the first exploratory mandate for the formation of a new Cabinet. After..

published on 6/25/24 7:15 AM
Ekrem İmamoğlu

Balkan developments

Mayor of Istanbul criticizes the migrant agreement between Turkey and the EU The mayor of Istanbul and an opponent of President Erdogan, Ekrem İmamoğlu, sharply criticized the 2016 agreement between Turkey and the EU to..

published on 6/21/24 1:06 PM