Government Press Office on PM’s Briefing: Election Campaign for Presidential Run-off Has Not Yet Begun

In its coverage of today’s media briefing by Prime Minister Rumen Radev, the Government Information Service states that, under the Electoral Code, the election campaign period has not yet begun ahead of the new election — the second round of the elections for President and Vice-President of the Republic of Bulgaria.

This is stated in a position issued by the government press office in response to questions about the referral to the Central Election Commission (CEC) by the initiative committee that nominated Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev, alleging violations of the Electoral Code by the prime minister through pre-election campaigning in support of Iliana Iotova.

The Government Information Service, as well as the media themselves, have a responsibility to keep the public informed in a timely and accurate manner about the public positions and activities of the prime minister and the government.

Even if certain journalists or media outlets disagree with the prime minister’s positions, professional journalistic standards require them to be reported accurately and in full. If certain media outlets nevertheless depart from professional standards by omitting, distorting, manipulating or cutting short the prime minister’s words and weaving them into political narratives, or if they are subject to censorship or self-censorship, the Government Information Service will not follow these negative examples.

The Government Information Service will continue to inform Bulgarian society about the prime minister’s positions and actions. It believes that reputable Bulgarian media outlets will do the same and will resist attempts by certain political circles to impose and legitimise censorship.