President Radev on the Municipal Council Elections in Pazardzhik: These Elections Are the Epitome of the Captured State

President Rumen Radev on October 13 commented to journalists in Varna on the recently held elections for Municipal Council in Pazardzhik (Southern Bulgaria)

With 100% of ballots processed, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) won the partial local elections for the Municipal Council in Pazardzhik.

“We all saw that these elections are the embodiment of a captured state and a manifestation of what we have long been talking about — the corruption in the Bulgarian politics,” President Radev stated.

The head of state also commented on the continuing detention of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev.

“Since we are in Varna, the case involving the city’s mayor becomes even more interesting. There have been reports about a secret witness — a Ukrainian citizen. Whether such a person exists, whether testimony has been given, and against whom — I cannot comment, that is within the competence of the court. What is disturbing, however, is the information regarding the work of SANS (the State Agency for National Security).

According to these publications, in early July the acting chair of SANS issued an order expelling this individual and banning him from entering Bulgaria on the grounds of his alleged involvement in activities which posed a danger to the public and linked to money laundering in Varna. If this is true, there must be an operational case file with compelling reasons for the expulsion. Yet, again according to the reports, only two weeks later the same acting chair of SANS revoked his own order and allowed the individual to return to Bulgaria. This is an absolute precedent — there has been no similar case in hundreds of bans issued over the years.

The logical question then arises — who pressured the acting chair of SANS to take such a risk, to ignore his own reasoning, and why? I call on the relevant parliamentary committee to clarify all circumstances surrounding this case, as the publications are already public and the public deserves a clear answer: are the media reports true or not?”

Radev noted that, by law, the chair of SANS must provide same information to the President, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

“No information on this case has been submitted to me. Yet all developments suggest that this information is being obtained by those who have no right to it — and who appear to be using it for their own self-serving purposes. This is the result of the recent changes in the security services — the suppression of inconvenient figures, intensifying political repression, and the increasingly brutal looting of public resources and private businesses.

The public is learning less and less — just as we never learned the full story of the ‘Hemus’ motorway fund siphoning under Borissov’s government. We are simply continuing to grow poorer in silence. This is no longer about presidential powers — it is about whether Bulgaria can still function as a state governed by the rule of law. If we fail to awaken the defensive forces of our society, we will regress to the darkest periods of dictatorship and plunder.”

The President made his remarks after participating in an award ceremony honouring young Bulgarians who achieved the “Gold” and “Silver” levels of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Bulgaria, held at the Euxinograd Residence.

“We have wonderful, intelligent young people — they are the future and the hope of Bulgaria,” Radev added.