site.btaCaretaker PM Bliznashki Assumes Responsibility for Coordinating Central Administration's Work in Election Process

Sofia, August 11 (BTA) - Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki will  assume the responsibility for coordinating the election process  on the part of the central administration in support of the work  of the Central Election Commission, the PM said in an interview  for the Bulgarian National Television broadcast Monday after  the central newscast. The highlights of the interview were made public by the government press office earlier in the day.
   
The smooth progress of the elections requires good coordination  of the administration and the relations with the civil society,  Bliznashki said, expressing hope that no surprises will be  allowed.

He called the appointment of Krassimira Medarova as Minister  without Portfolio in Charge of Elections "a good one" despite her fast withdrawal under  public pressure. "We reacted to public criticism, groundless or  not, but in this situation we decided that such a position  should not be created," the Prime Minister said.

Judge Krassimira Medarova was designated Minister without  Portfolio in Charge of Elections last Friday but the Protest  Network protested that, in her previous capacity as Chairperson  of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Medarova failed to  ensure CEC's transparent operation. The very next day, Medarova  asked President Rosen Plevneliev to stop the procedure for her  appointment to the caretaker Cabinet.
   
"We have not given up the idea to hold a referendum on the  election rules," Bliznashki said. He commented that the  referendum could already have been held if there had been strogn  enough will.

"What is most important now is to have a normal situation in the country," he said.

He was adamant that the caretaker government does not participate in the elections and will only create normal conditions for them to be held. "We shall not allow any
Kostinbrod affairs,"said the Prime Minister.

He was referring to a scandal which broke out on reflection day before the May 12, 2013 early parliamentary elections, when a batch of 350,000 excess ballot papers was found in a printing house in Kostinbrod (near Sofia). The case sparked recriminations among the leading political parties. Former government chief secretary Rosen Zhelyazkov was charged with malfeasance in office for failing to exercise adequate control over the amount of the ballots printed by the contractor and the handling of any discards in the printing process.