site.btaYes, Bulgaria Co-Chair Bozhanov: Former President Radev Must Answer Key Questions

Yes, Bulgaria co-chair Bozhidar Bozhanov said on Sunday that former President Rumen Radev had many questions to answer. In a television interview, Bozhanov said his party wanted clear answers on the rule of law and Bulgaria’s European future, adding that any potential partnership with Radev would depend on whether those answers met the expectations of Yes, Bulgaria voters, who remained sceptical given his previous positions.

Commenting on a condition set by Continue the Change (CC) Chair Assen Vassilev that joint candidate lists should not include anyone expelled by any party in the coalition, Bozhanov said talks on the lists had not yet begun. He added that the objective was far broader: to deliver on commitments made to hundreds of thousands of protesters. According to Bozhanov, the first step was to win back their trust, including by refreshing the candidate lists with competent, skilled, and publicly recognizable figures. He also said the party viewed the lists as a tool for mobilizing voter support.

Regarding Bulgaria joining the Board of Peace, Bozhanov said his legal team was drafting the grounds for a petition to the Constitutional Court, as they indicated on Friday. He argued that the outgoing PM should not have signed the agreement at all.

Bozhanov said GERB had realized it had made a major mistake, saw it was jeopardizing its pro-European image, and was hoping the planned constitutional petition would provide a pretext not to submit the ratification to the National Assembly the following week. He added that if the document was submitted before the Constitutional Court issued a ruling, they would vote “against”. Bozhanov also said GERB had completely lost whatever ideology it might once have had.

Commenting on changes to the Election Code approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Bozhanov said there had been an attempt to impose optical scanners two months before the election. He suggested that, for some reason, GERB had promised either There Is Such a People (TISP) or Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski that the scanners would be introduced for this vote.

Bozhanov also said that Bulgarian Turks would increasingly stop supporting Peevski because he had used them to prop up illegitimate power.