The elections in Bulgaria are not for sale, said Acting Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov in an interview with the online publication politico.eu, quoted by BTA. The parliamentary vote will be held on Sunday, April 19.
Bulgarian Prime Minister promises tougher action against vote buying and vote manipulation as the country heads into its eighth parliamentary election in five years, Politico reports.
"What we want to do as a government is - for the first time - to protect the elections, not to direct them", he said in the interview. "People can see that these elections are being protected", Gyurov believes.
In recent weeks, authorities have detained more than 200 people as part of a nationwide crackdown on vote buying and coercion, including through social support programs such as heating subsidies and hot lunches for vulnerable people. In some cases, local officials, including post office heads, have misinformed voters that state aid comes from specific political parties, Andrey Gyurov also said.
"Instead of manipulating the votes of individuals... [or] buying one vote, one action can buy a thousand votes", the caretaker prime minister commented.
According to Prime Minister Gyurov, coalition governments have focused more on retaining power than on implementing reforms on the very issues that the population has protested about. "These coalitions are compromises aimed at exercising power, not reforming the system. This benefits a few in political circles, not society as a whole,” Andrey Gyurov said in an interview with "Politico".
Until these fundamental issues are addressed, Bulgaria risks remaining trapped in a cycle of political instability and voter disengagement, the caretaker prime minister warns.
He insists that Bulgaria remains a reliable partner within Western alliances, such as NATO, and a strategic player in the Black Sea security arena.
"We cannot wait for the "right moment" when it comes to security," Gyurov said, adding that the partnership with Kiev offers Bulgaria opportunities to develop high-tech defense capabilities and equipment, as well as infrastructure for a dual-purpose army - military and civilian.
The government is also seeking to distance itself from decisions it sees as politically motivated – including the Peace Council of US President Donald Trump, from which Gurov withdrew the country, writes "Politico".