The Bulgarian political scene is once again entering a pre-election spiral, marked by disappointment, mythology and expectation for another “savior“. Against this background, Rumen Radev is emerging as a leading figure – inspired by public fatigue with the transition parties and the permanent institutional crisis. At the same time, the traditional parties seem to be in a waiting mode. GERB and MRF are silent, the small formations are under pressure, especially the BSP, where the generational gap calls into question the relationship between leadership and electorate. The PP–DB, on the other hand, are suffering damage from scandals and internal tensions that call into question their leadership and future role. And what else can we expect… PR expert Diana Damyanova speaks to FACTI.
– Ms. Damyanova, if I hand you a soccer ball, will you kick it?
– (laughs) Are you asking me if one should do crazy PR? No, one should not. It is extremely crazy for a prime minister to jump around with a soccer ball. When a person does not have enough to say in substance, he turns to such performances. I would sit down and talk instead of kicking a ball.
– What does the caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov show us by being able to kick around with Dimitar Berbatov? Sportsmanship, PR, a broad-minded ruler...
– Original stupidity. That is it.
– How do you view the composition of the caretaker cabinet? There is already, if we stay on a sports wave, “entering with the boots“ in some sectors – I mean the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Agriculture and Justice. Just active ministers or a demonstration that they want to get the job done?
– At this stage it is a demonstration that they want to get the job done. Specifically, the Minister of Justice Yankulov has let all the steam through the whistle. He is a lawyer and knows very well that what he set out to do with the replacement of Sarafov is not being done for the first time. Other ministers have tried too. There is no way he can do it. Yankulov must admit that the impossibility of replacing Sarafov is due to the insane decision during the “assembly“ and the changes to the Constitution, which made it so that in order to change the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council, 165 votes in parliament were needed. Back then, the “assembly“ thought it was eternal. Back then, the Borisov, Peevski and PP-DB majority thought they would rule forever. When everything fell apart, it turned out that nothing could be done now. In this sense, I will say again that the Minister of Justice simply blew the whistle. I also want Sarafov to be replaced, because there cannot be such an irritating figure who can concentrate so much public energy in himself. He really played some role in the “Petruhan” case, by appearing out of nowhere and speaking, and this subsequently made people even more suspicious. Otherwise, the demand for his replacement is justified. But it is tied up by the old GERB, DPS and PP-DB majority. And the entire judicial reform fell victim to this construction.
– You mentioned that there is public energy against Sarafov. Can it change anything?
– I don't think so. Fairs of the "civil arrest" type only reduce voter turnout and repel people. Even those who are sympathetic to the change - I mean the change in the judicial system - are absolutely scandalized by how some people invade an institution and try to attack it. Tomorrow someone may have the idea to make a civil arrest of the head of the Water and Sanitation Commission, and the day after tomorrow - of the head of some ERP, and thus a bad trend is created. The fact that the initiator of the civil arrest and the Minister of Justice are in the same photo is proof that these people really are letting all the money go through the whistle. As for the Minister of Agriculture Hristov, I don't know... One thing is undeniable - more time is spent making videos than on real work. I watched his last clip, in which he waved some folders and repeated "much above the price, much above the price", but without any specific facts. It is not clear what exactly is happening.
– Early elections in April, but with Rumen Radev on the political field. What messages do you hear from him?
– We do not hear messages, we hear silence, because he is, as they say, the new king of Bulgaria and will speak only when he deems it necessary. This is Radev's strategy, because if he starts talking and showing the people around him, he will probably start losing. Their strategy is to remain anonymous longer. Sociology undoubtedly gives him the first place.
– Yes, but Radev has no team, no party, and is leading by about 10% over GERB. Is he a savior? Do people see hope in him, or are they just fed up with the well-known faces in the parties?
– Currently, Radev is inspired by a well-played mythology, plus disappointment with the permanent political crisis, plus some hope that he is able to play the role of the new savior. Something that is happening to us for the fifth time and no one has played it properly so far. Either way, he is undoubtedly leading at this stage. Sociology shows higher civic activity in these elections. But what is happening at the moment – – – – Petrohan“ and everything around him – will lead to a decline in this high activity. It is difficult to make an accurate forecast now. Rumen Radev and whatever he will do as a political project, will have a leading role in the months after the elections. Whether he will be able to form a cabinet is another question. Whether those with whom he will do it will not sink him is another question.
– How much longer will his presidential halo last?
– He falls the moment he steps down from the presidential stage – we have seen it with previous presidents. But because this is a precedent that has never happened before in Bulgaria – a head of state leaving his mandate early to form a political party – he will probably last longer than the others. The problem with Radev is that he is not a new political figure. He is a person who has been on the political scene for nine years and in this sense people will soon begin to judge him by his actions. So far, there have been no such actions. And that is why he will win the elections in this fog so that after the elections it will become clear that he is one like everyone else.
– GERB and DPS – are waiting to see more from Radev, at the moment they are passive and not talking much. When will the attacks start?
– Probably when the lists in which Radev will show his people are released. Look, we have a very strange situation. All the "saviors" who have appeared so far have made lists of anonymous people. Anonymous people do not cause discussion because they are unknown. I personally remember how the last "savior" in the person of "Continuing the Change" included 280 completely unknown people in his lists. Later it turned out that most of them are no good. But as long as they are unknown, there is no compromising evidence against them.
– Yes, they are simply not burdened…
– The people around Rumen Radev will most likely not be unknown. And here is his bet - whether this will cause a public conversation, or on the contrary, they will be swallowed, like all the other lists of the next "savior". I have no idea how the Bulgarian people will react, but when the lists come out, the smear campaign will begin, the battle against them will begin.
– It's interesting in the BSP. A new leader in the person of Krum Zarkov, but one thing is determined by the National Council, another is voted on in the hall. What are the socialists facing?
– The socialists are facing a takeover and this has nothing to do with how one vote is voted on in the hall, which is very controversial. There is a dissonance in the BSP that I see – the young leader of this party would have difficulty creating meaningful political contact with the actual membership base of the party. He is 40 years old, and the base is 65+ years old. In this sense, it would be very difficult for his messages to reach these people, especially at a stage when Radev will most likely be mobilized to the maximum extent and will “suck them“.
Of all the small parties in parliament, the BSP is most threatened by being absorbed by Radev. And I'm not just talking about what I see in sociology, but by normal human behavior. The BSP can organically be “sucked“ by Radev, while that is not the case with MECH and ITN. It seems to me that with the small formations that sociology takes into account at this stage, there will be serious errors in the forecasts. This could somehow make it possible for more parties to enter. If, for example, 6, 7 or 8 parties enter, this would make Radev's government more possible.
– PP–DB how are they positioned? Kiril Petkov is gone… Asen Vassilev as sole chairman, in what direction is the party leading?
– PP–DB live with the illusion that what happened on December 1, 2025, will allow them to get 121 deputies. They are very bad with PR there, they are very bad with communication. “Petrohan“ hit them pretty hard, because there is no doubt that whatever it was in “Petrohan“ - a sect, a pedophile sect or whatever we call it - it developed under the umbrella of PP–DB. They are suffering damage. It would be good if their deputies were over 21, not 121.
– How do you see Asen Vassilev as chairman, as a leader?
– I think that a new leader is on the horizon of the PP and his name is Andrey Gyurov. And it seems to me that his political mission - because in the PP there is definitely a problem between the old and the new leadership - is to take control of the party after the elections. This would somehow change the behavior of the PP - DB.