site.btaOutgoing President Plevneliev: "My Goal is Ensuring Stability in the Country"

Outgoing President Plevneliev:
"My Goal is Ensuring Stability
in the Country"


Sofia, November 13 (BTA) - "Putting together a care-taker
cabinet is not a goal in and of itself for me. My goal is to
ensure that there is stability in the country, that the
institutions are working. As of today, both Parliament and the
Government are working," outgoing President Rosen Plevneliev
said in response to a question put to him after he cast his
ballot in Sunday's presidential runoff.

Today is a day for electing a president and a vice president,
not a day to indulge in redundant calculations about what may
happen, Plevneliev said, adding he hoped for a mass turnout.
"The Bulgarian citizens [...] should vote their conscience,
independently, wisely and actively and let's hail this evening a
 new head of state legitimately elected by the people in a fair
and honorable vote," he said.

Plevneliev said he will call the president-elect this evening
and will invite him or her to a meeting on Monday so that they
can start working together, something that will send a good
message to the public.

Plevneliev recalled that, as head of state, he had embraced
continuity and the building-up of the presidential institution
as a key priority and would be glad to see this continue to be
honored going forward.

Taking a question on the formation of a care-taker government,
Plevneliev said that should the country be plunged into a
political crisis by decisions over which the head of state has
no power, then he would do as he has done so far - uphold the
Constitution. The constitutional provisions and the general
spirit of the country's main law stipulate quite clearly what
the head of state should do in a crisis and I am sure that the
supremacy of the Constitution should help us once more find our
way should it come to a political crisis, the official said.

The Constitution clearly obliges the head of state - when he is
holding consultations with the political parties, the civil
society, the institutions, to find a way to avoid a political
crisis turning into a parliamentary crisis, Plevneliev said.

He went on to add that it is up to the political parties and the
 executive branch to look for a way to find a sustainable
formula, even under the current parliament. It is too early for
care-taker cabinets, Plevneliev said, noting he has his own
experience and capabilities to tackle successfully the formation
 of a care-taker cabinet while upholding the Constitution. 

Asked what advice he would give the politicians, Plevneliev said
 they need to analyse these elections very carefully to decipher
 the signal the public is sending them, what are the priorities
and issues topping their agenda that the politicians should take
 on. One of the main conclusions from the recent referendum that
 the politicians should come to is that the will of the public
and the mass turnout in the referendum should lead to concrete
results and that is why the country needs a working Parliament.
RUM

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