site.btaPresident Plevneliev Says He Will Not Run for New Term in Office

President Plevneliev  Says He Will Not Run for  New Term in Office

Sofia, May 20 (BTA) - In an extraordinary address on Friday President Rosen Plevneliev said he will not participate in the upcoming presidential elections "for personal reasons".

Plevneliev stressed that the fact that he is not going to have a second term in office "immediately" does not mean that he will leave politics. He also stressed that he will not establish or participate in political parties.

"I will serve out my term responsibly and with dedication. I will work at full speed until the last day of my term. I will continue to serve the Bulgarians, no matter where they are - in the homeland or abroad," Plevneliev said.

The President said he informed Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of his decision not to run for a second term in office on Thursday.

In his statement on Friday, Plevneliev said the two had worked well.

Plevneliev said he has acted fairly and properly by announcing his decision five months before the presidential elections. "I would not like for meaningful reforms in Bulgaria, such as the reform of the judiciary or the anti-corruption law, to be upstaged by underhand political calculations in the run-up to the election. I cannot accept anti-democratic acts to be politically legitimized with the convenient justification that we are already in the campaign stage," the President said.

Plevneliev said that he has imposed vetoes with principled and clear arguments and that he has acted his own independent conscience. The head of State is certain that when a person believes in their own rectitude and is prepared to tolerate disrespect, recognition will come sooner or later.

Plevneliev said also that now is not the proper moment to report on the undoubtedly difficult term of office he had during a time of a record-high number of crises and external instability, and given that there is much meaningful work to be done in this country in the coming months.

The President stressed that at the background of all these crises, at the moment Bulgaria has a good outlook. He said he is proud with what has been accomplished and voiced a hope that it will be preserved and further developed.

The head of State called on the politicians to leave behind the petty calculations for the presidential elections, to support the judicial reform, to make way for a strong anti-corruption legislation and not to divert from the European development of the country which he championed relentlessly.

Plevneliev thanked all and said that he felt the people's support and understanding everywhere and always.

Political Reactions to President's Announcement

Bulgarian Socialist Party

"This is the most socially unsensitive President of Bulgaria" Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova told reporters in Parliament. "He must have understood that he does not have the public and political support for a second term in office; moreover, he was not the right person for the job," Ninova said.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms

Plevneliev's decision not to run for a new term in office apparently is the result of a sober assessment of the support he could rely on in the upcoming elections for head of State, Movement for Rights and Freedoms MP Chetin Kazak told reporters in Parliament.

Patriotic Front

Patriotic Front co-floor leader Valery Simeonov described Plevneliev's decision not to run for a new term as "good news". "Apparently, Plevneliev did not win support from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, for which he worked so hard by vetoing the election provisions about voting abroad," Simeonov said. He congratulated Plevneliev on the decision.