"Obviously, after a day or two of silence, the leader of the largest political force still had to take some kind of stance, because both media and public attention was focused on this political case in Pazardzhik. But this is a game, a test of public opinion - whether it can take more and more of what is offered to it," said former Minister of Internal Affairs Prof. Veselin Vuchkov on "Denyat ON AIR". Prof. Vuchkov described what happened during election day in Pazardzhik as "a complete failure" of the local police, prosecutor's office and SANS.
According to him, the institutions have not responded adequately to signals of vote buying and have not fulfilled their obligations to prevent crimes in advance.
He warned that if similar situations are repeated in other regions, this could further alienate citizens from the electoral process. Regarding the latest legislative initiatives directed against President Rumen Radev, Prof. Vuchkov expressed the opinion that an "invisible line" is being crossed.
"Legislative activity should be implemented when there is a need to regulate serious public relations, and not always go "against" someone in order to hit our political opponent. Once again, I say - I am not a sympathizer of the Bulgarian president, but an invisible line is being crossed here. Political hatred towards our political competitor is already turning into a showdown with the presidential institution. And this goes beyond all reasonable limits," said Prof. Vuchkov to Bulgaria ON AIR.
The former minister emphasized that the National Security Service must be reformed - with a smaller budget and a limited circle of protected persons.
"There are an extremely large number of protected persons by law. In my opinion, we are mixing up two concepts - representativeness and the need for security", said Prof. Vuchkov. Regarding the tragic incident with a murdered child in a Sofia mall, Prof. Vuchkov said that installing metal detectors is not a solution. According to him, the problem lies in the insufficient training of the security guards.
"This is truly a very sad incident. I hope such things do not happen again, because a child has died. But installing metal detectors at the entrances to the malls, in my opinion, is also an excessive measure. The security guards should be much better trained and react more adequately. "In my opinion, the fault here lies with the security company, which has not fulfilled its obligations," noted Prof. Vuchkov.