Radostin Vassilev, chairman of MECH, who is a presidential candidate, told bTV that he is joining the race in order to continue the political path that the party has taken, and “in search of the truth“.
“In order to continue the path that we have taken in politics, in search of the truth. And this battle in which we joined today, we actually, officially, registered the party. Because I believe that I have the qualities, I have the independence, I have the expertise and I am truthful enough to tell the truth that people want to hear“, said Vassilev.
In his words, the presidential institution should not be “a nomenclature-oligarchic continuation of a time that we should have left behind long ago, at least in political terms - he should not be called Iliyana Yotova“.
“And I believe that in Bulgaria, the presidential institution should meet the standards at least for seriousness, responsibility, for professional realization, for qualities“, he said.
Vassilev also commented on the other announced presidential candidate pairs. According to him, the Gyurov – Kandev pair is not strong enough.
“We are certainly a stronger pair professionally. The political issue is already in the results“, said the leader of MECH.
He defined Krasimir Manov as one of the best energy experts in Bulgaria and pointed out that it was he who filed the report on the case of the expansion of the “Chiren“ gas storage facility, which was investigated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
“This is the person who filed the report on the “Chiren“ fraud. About this false expansion that they tried to make and which is the subject of an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor's Office,“ said Vassilev.
According to him, Manov is a member of parliament who has proven that he can bet “his own peace of mind and his life“ in order to stop a fraud worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Vassilev also commented on his acquaintance with Iliyana Yotova.
“I also know Mrs. Yotova. I am the only one who dared to tell a public secret. It is a fact, it is not a secret. Without any comment or qualification of my own, or subjective opinion. I simply expressed some facts about her during our last meeting with her, which at the time may have seemed rude, but now they are justified from the position of five months later,“ he said.
According to him, MECH has “very serious reasons“ to participate in the presidential elections.
„Our participation is by no means an Olympic principle. We have 105,000 votes and are the sixth party“, Vassilev said.
He said that the party will try to win the trust of voters “with consistency and truth“.
„The fact that a huge political mastodon has appeared, has a million and a half votes and we are almost out of parliament, does not demotivate us. On the contrary, we are organized and strong“, he said.
Vassilev also commented on the MECH result in the parliamentary elections and the fact that the party failed to enter the National Assembly, but is now participating in the presidential race.
„We assess our failure to enter parliament in the people's enormous desire for quick change. And I want to tell you that five months after the start of the government of “Progressive Bulgaria“ a huge part of the people see that the things that were said before the elections and those that are done after the elections in all sectoral policies are drastically different“, he said.
According to him, this disappointment increases the electoral support for MECH.
“We had 105 thousand votes, but we expected that if Mr. Radev and his party had not appeared, we would have had 200 or 300 thousand votes“, said Vassilev.
He emphasized that the party speaks directly, which leads to both approval and disapproval.
“The truth, which I consider to be such, creates both extreme approval and strong disapproval. But this is the only way to get through a very long 30-year period“, said the leader of MECH.
In his words, Bulgaria cannot be changed with “palliative measures“.
“We cannot make a reform, the simplest one, hold a competition, build a stadium, equip a hospital. And we want to talk about a developed country. That is, with palliative measures, with the talk that everyone probably likes very much and I am capable of doing it, this is not exactly the way in my opinion that we will change Bulgaria“, said Vassilev.
He also commented on GERB's decision not to nominate its own candidate for president and not to participate in the elections.
“I will be very relieved when this party disappears from the political map and its leader disappears from the political map of Bulgaria. For me, this is one of the last clinical conditions of the end of this party“, said Vassilev.
According to him, this is one of the positive things in the change of the political picture.
„For me, these voters there would not recognize Yotova either, because Borisov fought for 20 years with the communists, if you remember. Nor are they big fans of Gyurov and Kandev, so maybe this is good for MECH“, he said.
Vassilev defined MECH as „a rather more masculine party“.
When asked whether the party could take Borisov's place in the hearts of GERB supporters, he replied:
„This place of Borisov is irreplaceable in my opinion in the hearts of the Gerbers, but let's say that there are also people who think and we have deceived ourselves many times about who to vote for. So this release of this political niche is positive, but it rather speaks of the end of GERB.“
Vassilev also commented on the presence of representatives and former representatives of GERB in the initiative committee for the candidacy of Iliyana Yotova.
„These people are one thing, as people who were in the executive branch, part of the operational leadership, and the voter is another. Let's not interfere with them“, he said.
Vassilev said that he was surprised by Vezhdi Rashidov's participation in Yotova's initiative committee.
He also returned to the political situation of 1996, stating that the election of Yotova would mean a return to a similar situation.
„Electing Yotova, and outside the people were hungry, this was shortly before the Videnova winter, December, 1996, they were passing by, some large tables were being spread out, some banquet settings were being awarded. It seems to me that if we elect Yotova, we are returning to these... This was exactly 30 years ago. I was 11, but I remember it“, said Vassilev.