President Rumen Radev on January 14 handed the second exploratory mandate to form a government to the “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” coalition (WCC–DB). The group returned it immediately, unfulfilled.
Rumen Radev, President of the Republic of Bulgaria:
“After the largest parliamentary group returned the mandate, in accordance with Article 99 of the Constitution, I must now hand the second exploratory mandate to your parliamentary group. I therefore invite you to announce your candidate for caretaker prime minister.”
Nadezhda Yordanova, MP from the WCC–DB parliamentary group:
“On behalf of the parliamentary group of ‘We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria’, we are here to fulfil the procedure under Article 99 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria. By decision of our parliamentary group, I have been formally tasked to carry out this procedure by accepting the mandate and immediately returning it as unfulfilled.
The decision of the WCC–DB parliamentary group to return the mandate unfulfilled is motivated by the fact that in the 51st National Assembly there is no possibility of forming a reformist majority – a majority capable of dismantling the model of the captured state.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the streets have said clearly: we want honest elections now. In reality, Mr President, this is the central issue facing society and politicians alike – to ensure a transparent, fair and free electoral process.
We have repeatedly maintained that the best, most transparent and trouble-free elections were held when Bulgarians voted 100% by machine – they delivered the fastest reporting of results and the fewest irregularities. That is why we insist that this procedure be restored.
We are deeply concerned by attempts by the outgoing majority to replace the will of the Bulgarian people and to hurriedly, in the dark, impose so-called scanning devices. It is evident that this has been prepared within the Legal Affairs Committee. We will not allow this. We will oppose all attempts to compromise the vote of Bulgarian citizens.
That is why we call on Bulgarian citizens today at 18:00 to gather at Independence Square and to state clearly their will and their demand for honest elections.
The only way to restore trust in institutions is for many people to go to the polls as soon as possible and to be confident that their vote will be counted correctly. With these arguments, Mr President, I return the mandate unfulfilled.”
Rumen Radev, President of the Republic of Bulgaria:
“With this refusal, the possibilities for forming a government within the 51st Parliament are significantly narrowed. The major question is not when elections will be held, but what kind of elections they will be.
I expect leaders of political parties not to tell me when to schedule elections, but to show political initiative and responsibility, and to familiarise themselves with the decision of the Constitutional Court of 13 March last year, which describes only part of the serious irregularities during the most recent parliamentary elections.
Therefore, all parties in Parliament should commit themselves to increasing trust in the electoral process. We should look back over the last five or six years and identify when elections were the most honest, the most transparent, enjoyed the highest level of public confidence, and produced the fastest and most objective reporting of results.
They should then undertake the necessary legislative changes so that every Bulgarian citizen can be certain their vote will be counted correctly.”
photos by Dessislava Kulelieva, BNT
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