In the presidential elections in October, we will be in a runoff with President Iliana Yotova. This was stated on the air of “Good Morning, Europe“ by the former Minister of Agriculture and Food and independent candidate for president Ivan Hristanov. According to him, until recently there was an option for a joint candidacy with the PP and DB, but both parties refused.
Ivan Hristanov officially enters the presidential battle as an independent candidate, nominated by an initiative committee. In an interview, he stated that he does not rely on party support and defined the emergence of new candidacies as an opportunity for a real choice. According to him, the attacks against him at the beginning of the campaign are unnecessary: “The most important thing in an election is to have a choice“. Hristanov called on the other candidates to campaign “honestly and gentlemanly”, without slander and attempts to eliminate the competition.
Hristanov said he would accept political support in a runoff if it was aimed at consolidating support against the other candidate, but stressed that the first round should be a competition between personalities, not between party headquarters. He predicted that, given the current mood, his rival in the second round would likely be Iliyana Yotova. “Bulgarians deserve to choose between strong candidates, not candidates set up by party headquarters,”, he said.
Among the main highlights of his program is the role of the president as a defender of social justice. Hristanov pointed to the elderly as a group that, in his opinion, does not have sufficient public representation, and said that one of his first acts would be to create a special commission within the presidential institution for their problems. He also criticized the way the state controls small businesses, questioning whether the focus should be on hairdressers, service stations and freelancers, while “the big oligarchs in Bulgaria do not pay their taxes and owe billions“.
The candidate defined the president as “the last spokesman of society“ and stated that the institution should be loyal above all to the citizens, and not to the political leader who appointed the head of state. Hristanov revealed that there have been attempts at a joint candidacy in the democratic space, including through debates and a transparent process, but they have not led to a result. However, he believes that the presence of more strong candidacies can increase the mobilization and legitimacy of the next president: “Whoever is elected president will have the legitimacy of the people, and not just of the party headquarters that appointed him“.
Source: euronews.bg