The criminal case “Petrokhan - Okolchitsa“ will not have a significant impact on the results of the upcoming parliamentary elections.
This was stated by political scientist Stoycho Stoychev on the air of the program “Offensive“ on NOVA NEWS.
He was categorical that the case should not be politicized. “This is a criminal story and should be left to the forensic experts. It is not the job of political scientists to analyze such tragedies“, he emphasized.
According to him, although at the moment a large part of society perceives what happened as a serious shock, the time distance until the elections and the dynamics of the political processes in the country will blunt the effect of the event. Stoychev emphasized that in the Bulgarian political reality, electoral attitudes are extremely stable.
“The elections are far enough away in time. Many other things will happen by then. There will undoubtedly be some repercussions, but a direct relay of effects on the electoral results of the parties is unlikely to occur“, he said.
The program also discussed whether the election of Andrey Gyurov as caretaker prime minister was a hoped-for development. According to Stoychev, the decision was largely predictable.
“It was clear from the series of public requests and in view of the protests in December where things were going. From a political point of view, there were clearly stated positions that in another election the legitimacy of the vote would be called into question“, he commented.
The political scientist also expressed skepticism about the possibility of the caretaker cabinet being entirely expert. “There is no way that the selection of ministers can be completely impartial. In the current political situation, it is difficult to find an expert who would accept such a role without political ambitions“, Stoychev said.
Regarding Yotova's first veto as president on the changes to the Electoral Code, he said the following: “This is the party that nominated Iliana Yotova for vice president. Therefore, I expect her veto not to be overturned in the plenary hall. The more likely scenario is that the parliament will keep the situation as it was in the previous parliamentary elections.“