site.btaUPDATED President Radev Makes "Last Address to Nation as President", to Step Down Tuesday

In a televised address to the nation Monday, Rumen Radev said this is his "last address as President" of Bulgaria. He said he will be submitting his resignation as head of State on Tuesday and expressed conviction that Vice President Iliana Iotova will make a worthy head of State President. He is the first Bulgarian president to resign. 

Under Article 97 of the Constitution, the president of the Republic may tender his resignation to the Constitutional Court prior to the expiry of his term of office. In such case, the vice president must assume the office of president for the remainder of the term of office. Within a period at its discretion, the Constitutional Court must decide whether the president has resigned of their own accord. If this is the case, the president's credentials will be terminated, and the vice president will step in.

Beyond the resignation announcement, Radev framed his decision as a response to what he called a “vicious model of governance” that “has the outward features of democracy, but in practice functions through the mechanisms of oligarchy”. He argued that “Bulgarian politics is conducted outside the institutions” and claimed that “the puppet-masters do not hesitate, on camera, to issue orders to the National Assembly”, “capture parties, banks, businesses, and the media”, and “wield power like a cudgel against their political opponents”.

Radev said Bulgaria has completed its European integration and is now “members of Schengen and the euro area”, but asked why these achievements had not brought “stability or a sense of fulfillment”, pointing to what he described as deep public disillusionment: “Why did Bulgarians stop voting? Why do they distrust the media and have no confidence in the judiciary?” He said that “two-thirds no longer vote” and argued that “a new social contract is needed”.

He also accused the political class of eroding democratic standards. Referring to the “patchwork” coalition cabinet, he said it “ultimately erased the line between corrupt actors and anti-corruption fighters, between legality and lawlessness”. He described constitutional changes as “the hijacking of the Constitution” and said that, “in its new form, the Basic Law enshrined permanent oligarchic control over the executive branch”, adding that “the caretaker government is no longer a dependable guarantor of free and fair elections”.

Radev cited as a turning point what he called the National Assembly’s refusal to hold a referendum “on the date for introducing the single European currency”, saying: “The people’s representatives denied the people their right to choose.” He also referred to a protest wave that “brought down the government” late last year and said it had produced “broad public consensus against the mafia” that “must be translated into concrete action in the upcoming parliamentary elections”.

The President said: "We face a struggle for the future of our homeland, and I believe we will wage it together, with all of you: the worthy, the inspired, and the unyielding. We are ready. We can do it. And we will succeed!"

He did not expressly mention the establishment of a party of his own.

There has been a lot of speculation recently about Rumen Radev intending to leave the President's Office to go into politics.