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Ivo Indjov before FACTS: At a time when PP-DB is losing political weight, the power ambitions of GERB and DPS are growin

Obviously now Borisov and Peevski are in control and have decided that they can afford elections and thus impose their terms, says the political scientist

Mar 26, 2024 13:32 65

Ivo Indjov before FACTS: At a time when PP-DB is losing political weight, the power ambitions of GERB and DPS are growin - 1

Parliament voted that the first term was unfulfilled. This happened after Maria Gabriel's declaration of will to withdraw her nomination for Prime Minister. In the vote, 226 were "for". Only one MP from PP-DB abstained. What's next and who goes to elections how?… Political scientist Ivo Injov spoke to FACTS.

- Mr. Injov, have all the cards been removed from the political players so that we can understand why we will not have a cabinet?
- They are taken down, at least officially. Of course, we do not know if and what they talked to each other informally and what conditions they set for themselves to reach this situation. Much has been said about whether the original formula according to the agreement between GERB and PP-DB, that there should only be a change of prime ministers, has been respected. We are completely confused as to what ultimately determined the outcome of the election: GERB's demand for more ministers of the final right, and we are talking about nodal ministers, their reluctance to sign the agreement with its key components, although they themselves proposed to have a coalition document, or else the cart was overturned by smaller at first glance, but significant details, such as the request to drop the investigative secret, which was held by PP-DB… But that doesn't really matter anymore. It was seen that at a moment when PP-DB lost political weight, the power ambitions of GERB and DPS grew. DPS, of course, as an informal participant in this triple coalition. In my opinion, the moment GERB and DPS felt more comfortable, they decided to strengthen their positions through new elections. I expected there would be new elections, but in about 6 months or at the time of the next rotation. Obviously now Borisov and Peevski are in control and have decided that they can afford elections and thus impose their terms.

- We often heard that this cabinet has a very good chance of completing its full term. Well, that didn't happen because…
- The parties from the so-called "assembly" propagandized this government as the only one possible for Bulgaria because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need for our country to reaffirm its Euro-Atlantic course, as well as in view of the need to make urgent reforms in the Constitution, to prepare for Schengen membership. Some of these things happened, but half-heartedly. Against this background, we observed a battle of interpretations. What happened and who achieved what in these 9 months. However, there is another point of view for these 9 months. Namely, that we observed an unprincipled agreement of parties that called themselves “good forces”, parties of “change”, with the forces of the status quo, which continue to embody the “conquered” from political-oligarchic interests, the state and the key institutions have a toxic, corrupt image. After all, “the assembly” did not achieve much. It is not enough to qualify it as the implementation of a reform project. Within this “assembly” there was always “kicking the knuckles” and “dead grips“ between GERB and PP-DB, and GERB and DPS always wanted to have a bigger share of the pie of power and public resources. At the same time, the PP-DB was weakening. GERB and DPS took advantage of all this. Within this loose coalition, GERB arranged for them to stay on the sidelines, to pretend to be in opposition in their role as co-governors, although it was GERB and DPS who modeled the landmark decisions in the parliament with the help of floating majorities.

- On March 19, we heard from the PP-DB and from the resigned Prime Minister Denkova that Maria Gabriel will not become Prime Minister, and on March 24 we heard again that the resigned Prime Minister Denkov almost prayed to Maria Gabriel to have an office. What position is this?
- Regarding Maria Gabriel, we heard many more things and more flowery expressions. I am referring to the words of the co-chairman of the PP and finance minister Asen Vasilev.

- That Maria Gabriel is “…the latest and most beautiful face of the mafia“…
- Yes. The behavior of PP-DB in recent days is unacceptable. When you characterize the future prime minister, because then she had a chance to become prime minister, in this way, people get the impression that for nine months you sat at the same table with “the most beautiful face of the mafia”, and normally the question arises who are the others mafia faces.

As well as the more important question – what are you doing at a table with the mafia?

Confidence in the PP-DB was greatly undermined after this zigzagging behavior of their leaders. At the end of breaking the "assembly" on the other hand, PP-DB began to pray to Borisov, the leader of GERB, to have a government despite everything that had happened before. And only a year ago, under the government of Kiril Petkov, Boyko Borisov was put in custody for 24 hours. Well, how can voters now believe that politicians work responsibly for society and that my actions are based on values and morals?

- How do you see Maria Gabriel, who handed the president a list of names of ministers, and then it turned out that these names did not agree with the people. We saw as a reaction how 11 people immediately retracted. What kind of political move was this?
- A move of wringing the hands of the PP-DB and as an element of being outdone in this negotiation process. On the other hand, it was very strange why we observed these negotiations after 9 months had passed after the participants in the “assembly” worked together at that time, and it would be proper to negotiate only the technical things in the end, not the formula of the new edition of the “assembly”.

- Which party how enters the upcoming elections…
- If we look at the latest survey by “Gallup”, it is clear that GERB and DPS are in quite good condition and will be better represented in the parliament. In general, new elections are expected to repeat the same political configuration. PP-DB will be significantly less represented, but because we will still be propagated the need for a “Euro-Atlantic“ management, they are emerging to be “junior partner” in “Assembly 2”, if any. In my opinion “Revival“ will improve their performance, as well as the other parties represented in parliament. There will most likely be a lower voter turnout compared to the last election. This should not surprise us, because people are tired of a series of early elections. Voters see that they are sending people to parliament who quite quickly cross out their main theses and surrender their values, if they had any at all.