"Radev showed us that he has learned nothing new, but he has forgotten nothing old either. We have good news and bad news. The good news is that we had a frankly open political message. The bad news is that from the purely constitutional function of a head of state, who should unite the nation, the topic of the euro was touched upon in a negative context, which divides some of the Bulgarian citizens, political scientist Milen Zhelev said on the occasion of the president's New Year's speech to the Bulgarian National Radio.
"This was President Radev, who, however, sounded as if he were the failed Prime Minister Radev, as if this was the opposition leader Radev, who, however, does not have his own political party, who still occupies the "Dondukov" cabinet with the impressive achievement of a second term, i.e. he continues to enjoy a surprisingly, for some, high rating for the simple reason that a large part of Bulgarian voters vote for hater reasons, out of hatred for their opponents. But he also has a large fan base of people who sincerely believe in everything he says and sympathize with him", commented Zhelev.
According to him, the president has not yet decided whether he will appear as a player on the field in the next elections.
The protest was based on values. The phenomenon of the ITN in Bulgarian political life showed why Bulgaria should not be a presidential republic, believes Milen Zhelev.
According to him, the picture with the ITN looks "quite gloomy as a political project".
"ITN still has some cards up its sleeve and has not completely lost the battle. The same applies to the BSP," the political scientist believes.
He also commented on the most discussed political figure in the squares.
"This apparent calm - he is preparing, I don't know if it's for a leap, but for some revenge against his political opponents. My opinion is that he is trying to promote himself not just as a person who fights against what he doesn't like, but that this is also his natural essence - as a person who crushes everything in his path".
In his words, Peevski's party is probably in crisis because for it "it seems to be characteristic to spend money on elections". "Now it turns out that they have to get their hands dirty again", commented Milen Zhelev.
The same applies to GERB-SDF, he added and was categorical:
"The elections will be expensive not only for the Bulgarian state, but also for all vote traders. However, this does not mean that the good guys will defeat the bad guys".
According to him, the hater vote continues to be decisive, and the expectation for the next government is again for a coalition.