The civil protest in front of the presidency under the slogan "Your peace is capitulation, your diplomacy - isolation" is an adequate reaction against the unacceptable foreign policy position of the government. However, Prime Minister Rumen Radev's sharp words regarding the dissatisfaction show growing concern about a possible consolidation of right-wing forces before the elections. This was commented on in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" on Radio FOCUS political scientist and former vice-rector of Sofia University Prof. Milena Stefanova.
FOCUS recalls that when asked about the protest tonight, the Prime Minister commented that the plan of the organizers of the protest is becoming clearer. "To resurrect the assembly, to wash Borisov and Peevski, to return to power together with them, because they cannot do it alone. To push us into war and have Asen Vassilev make the budget for us, which will finish us off“, he said.
Fear of consolidation and instilling fear
Her comment was prompted by Radev's statement, according to which the protests aimed at “rehabilitation of the Borisov-Peevski model and bringing the country into war“.
“Prime Minister Radev is relying on two strongly held feelings in society - the denial of the Borisov-Peevski model and the fear of war. This instilling fear in people is extremely unpleasant for Bulgarian political life. At the same time, for me, the joint declaration signed by Ivan Kostov, Nikolay Denkov, Boyko Borisov and Kiril Petkov was a strategically important sign. Although belated, such statesmanlike behavior unites, and Radev clearly does not have such an approach and this is starting to worry him“, pointed out Prof. Stefanova.
Economy, geopolitics and expected low voter turnout
According to the political scientist, on the eve of the first round of the presidential elections, society is strongly divided on two main topics - geopolitical orientation and deepening economic problems.
"The government is in a procedure for excessive deficit and shows a complete lack of reforms. On the contrary, there is a desire to collect more money on the backs of business and workers through strange and ineffective measures. All this, combined with the boring campaign in which the candidates encapsulated themselves only among their sympathizers, leads to the most serious indicator - "expectation for extremely low voter turnout," she said.
The mistake with the presidential candidacy and the future of the right
Prof. Stefanova criticized "We continue the change" for the lack of dialogue for a unified right-wing candidacy:
"It is a well-known fact that "We continue the change" was the main factor that did not want to sit at a negotiating table. They preferred to close themselves in their narrow circle and imposed the civic candidate Andrey Gyurov. They put their narrow party interest before the national one and isolated a large part of the right-wing voters. The results of these presidential elections will probably show that there is no other way out, except for the emergence of a new common right, based on clear values, and not on leadership struggles," concluded Prof. Milena Stefanova.