site.btaMajority That Rejected President's Veto on Election Code Revisions Was Predictable - Former PM Zhelyazkov

The majority that rejected the President’s proposal to reconsider a bill proposing amendments to the Election Code was predictable, as was the joint vote of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning, former prime minister and current GERB-UDF MP Rosen Zhelyazkov told reporters on Wednesday. 

Asked about criticism that the changes were adopted shortly before the upcoming early elections, Zhelyazkov said that amendments to the Election Code have long been part of the political agenda. “When elections catch us unprepared and we do not have the predictability of a regular four-year term, we cannot expect electoral legislation to remain unchanged,” he said.

Commenting on the replacement of the Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, Zhelyazkov said that under the Constitution every caretaker cabinet is a technical government and has two main tasks: to ensure the technical organization of elections - while the responsibility for conducting them lies with the Central Election Commission (CEC) - and to guarantee the functioning of systems. A caretaker government has legal legitimacy derived from the President’s powers, but it does not have political legitimacy, Zhelyazkov said. “You must decide whether replacing second- or third-tier officials in institutions is a matter of political appointments or of ensuring the proper technical conduct of elections,” he noted. He added that “both the bread and the knife are in the hands of the caretaker government; both the bread and the knife are in the hands of CC-DB, so the responsibility lies with them as well.“

Regarding the replacement of regional governors by the caretaker cabinet of Andrey Gurov, Zhelyazkov noted that “most of those governors had already been agreed upon during the 'assemblage' [a term used with a negative connotation to describe a previous parliamentary majority between GERB-UDF, CC-DB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms].“ “I believe that we replaced only one regional governor while I was prime minister,“ Zhelyazkov said. Continuity in institutions, he added, depends not only on competence but also on the absence of political interference in decision-making.

As to the Petrohan case, Zhelyazkov said that any interference in an investigation - regardless of whether it appeals to certain voters - should not affect the work of investigators. “They must protect their professional honour and dignity,” he said, adding that, in his view, the principle of separation of powers in Bulgaria is functioning relatively well.

Zhelyazkov took questions from reporters while submitting documents to the CEC to register the GERB-UDF coalition for participation in the early parliamentary elections scheduled for April 19.