© Yulia Lazarova
The caretaker government monitors who takes the upper hand before the elections, and the goal is to have no government. Such a thesis was expressed by the leader of GERB, Boyko Borisov, in his last pre-election interview for BTV. His comment was on the occasion of the European Prosecutor’s Office’s searches of addresses in Sofia in connection with an investigation into possible corruption and misuse of EU funds for the restoration of the historic center of the city, including the rearrangement of the iconic yellow cobblestones, the repair of Alexander Nevsky Square and Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd.
Borisov compared the action to the “Kostinbrod” affair from 2013, when on the day of reflection Maya Manolova (then a candidate for deputy from the BSP) filed a report and the National Security Agency with the participation of the prosecutor’s office carried out an inspection of a printing house in Kostinbrod due to suspicion of election fraud. According to the GERB leader, today’s entry of the European Prosecutor’s Office “is tendentious and serves Radev”.
“Would anything have changed by Monday? Isn’t this interference in the elections?” asked Borisov, adding that the difference was that it was not happening on Saturday, but on Friday evening. Borisov also expressed another thesis – that “(Ivan) Shishkov and (Ivan) Demerdzhiev fight for GERB, and Rositsa Velkova and the Minister of Energy (Rosen Hristov, note author) fight for PPs. The caretaker government monitors who takes precedence, the goal is to have no government. Now they will attack us, we will return it to them. And this not only does not bring us closer, it divides the parties and makes it impossible to create a government,” believes the GERB leader. And hinted that none of this was by accident.
The president accused the parties of being outside the norms of the constitution for a long time
This is the first serious criticism of the head of state that Borisov has made during the campaign. The GERB leader has so far refrained from harsh words towards the president and has given the impression of easing tensions in relations that have deteriorated since Radev withdrew his confidence in Borisov’s last government in 2020.
Borisov continued with his criticism of the official cabinet: “These people are elected to rule by the people, to form a government. President Radev was elected to be president, not to form a government and take reactors. He can pronounce, have a veto, say “that something is wrong”. According to him, a regular government should govern until the next one, not ex officio, and that he would support a general change related to the elimination of the option of official cabinets, an idea recently launched by “Continuing the change – Democratic Bulgaria”.
“Democratic Bulgaria” and “We continue the change” are considering limiting the power of official offices