Petar Klisarov told FACTI about the vote in Pazardzhik: These are perhaps one of the dirtiest and most corrupt elections

The local elections in Pazardzhik outlined a picture of deep dependencies between money, power and control over votes. If the voting and accountability model does not change, the parliament - local or national - will be “written“ not by the citizens, but by those who know how to “manipulate“ and “buy“. What we saw in Pazardzhik… Petar Klisarov, leader of the “Direct Democracy“ party, spoke to FACTI.

- Mr. Klisarov, we witnessed quite interesting elections in Pazardzhik. “Direct Democracy“ has two municipal councilors. How did you see the vote there?
- We should have three, because two votes are not enough for us for a third term. And we see an injustice in the electoral system that transfers mandates. We also see something very unusual — for example, if “New Beginning“ has 8, it has the opportunity to get 9. Because from all the small parties, those votes that are not enough for the next municipal councilor are transferred in some unknown way by “Information Services“, according to rules that are absolutely inexplicable.

- Can there be a change, because it has already come out that MRF – New Beginning will have 8 seats...
- I say again that there is a problem with the redistribution of those who are not enough by a little. They go to other parties that have more seats. And this is not fair. But overall, these are probably some of the dirtiest and most corrupt elections ever held.

- Why do you say that?
- Because of the way vote buying and pressure are handled. If up until now we have had vote buying - some guys show up and buy a certain vote, now we are seeing something that we cannot help but notice. In the segment that is more uneducated and uncultured, let's not call it anything else, huge amounts of money are being poured in. And now the people who did not take part in the elections will only watch the show and sip popara. However, this is a very good litmus test for the next parliamentary elections, so that everyone is aware that if they remain uninvolved and do not go out to vote, the same will happen in the parliamentary elections. And maybe Delyan Peevski really needs to win and become Prime Minister to wake up this Bulgarian society and make some kind of revolution that will clean up all those who we see are not working correctly.

- What were your attitudes before the vote?
- We expected a little more people to vote. We ran a very positive campaign. Our list is mainly made up of young people who want to live in Pazardzhik and take care of it. We saw lists of other parties with quite worn-out faces, familiar people who have been in many other parties. And, naturally, some of them couldn't even qualify. Our expectations were for more people to vote, there should have been a higher voter turnout.

- The problem with these elections is...
- The problem was that there was a directive from Peevski: “We must be the number one party“. And the big circus is that GERB has three municipal councilors. Which leads us to another thought, that the vote that was obtained was not without their interference. GERB is simply transferring votes to another party. They have done it before.

- Are they transferring or taking them away?
- There are different options — they have agreements, they transfer votes to other parties so that they can push them out, another is taking part of their votes away. At the same time, vote buying is also going on, for which there are signals, including from our sympathizers.

- How did you manage to protect your vote?
- We had observers in 80 sections and that is why we have a better result. But we are also observing the disappearance of votes. Where we had a sure 40 votes - we have 4. This is already happening during the counting. If one zero disappears - this is how it becomes 4. All the dirty tricks are used. This must be stopped with a new electoral law, but not written by the current politicians.

- In Ognyanovo there were blocked cars, money was found. Is this the reaction of society so that there is no vote buying, because the vote there stopped after 2 p.m.?
- Yes, civic activism is the way. But not only to chase away these anomalies - the dark windows and expensive cars, but to go out to vote en masse. If 70-80% of people go out to vote, as in the Czech Republic, the ethnic and corporate vote, which is currently being imposed by Peevski with money, pressure and brutal attacks, will drop a lot. Let this vote be like an injection to wake people up.

- What else impressed you?
- The former mayor of Pazardzhik - Todor Popov, who has been in power for 16 years, has appointed his own people to the municipal structures. They are now distributed to other parties so that they can later have a majority in the Municipal Council. These are dirty games for budget control, not a desire for the region to develop.

- How will Mayor Kulinski, who is from the PP-DB, work with this “colorful parliament“?
- Very difficult. Roughly speaking, those who gravitate around Peevski are about 20-21, and the others - 19-20. Knowing what finances the people around Peevski have, they will probably be able to slowly buy off some more to drain the budget.

- GERB reached 6th position. Is it a surprise?
- No. GERB has been on the decline for a long time. For two years, they have been looking for a replacement for Boyko Borisov, but more intelligent people refuse to take on this role. What Rosen Zhelyazkov was appointed to do as an administrator was already rejected by a parliament. Now they have given him a job as prime minister. This is a trend - loyal mice living in the system because they are obedient.

- How will things turn out in Pazardzhik?
- GERB has gone downhill and the question is not whether it will be taken over by “New Beginning“ or not. The question is for people to start thinking about what the parties are offering and what they have done so far and to vote consciously in the next elections.