site.btaPresident Radev, Vice President Iotova to Seek Re-election

Sofia, February 1 (BTA) - Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and
Vice President Iliana Iotova will run for a second term in
office in November 2021, the head of State Monday told a news
conference at which he reviewed the first four years of his
presidency.

Iotova missed the 2021 presidential news conference because she
has tested positive for coronavirus.

Replying to a question from the attending reporters, the
President said that he had not approached any political parties
for support for his and Iotova's re-election bid "at least
because the Socialists, who nominated us in 2016, have the right
 of first refusal".

Radev added that he and the Vice President expect to be
supported by the Socialists again, as well as by all honest
Bulgarians. He believes that the trust they enjoy with the
Bulgarian Socialist Party has grown over the difficult four
years of the mandate.

The President specified that the form of the candidacy will
become clear within the statutory time limit after the April 4
parliamentary elections.

Following is a takeaway from his answers to questions on a wide
range of issues that he was asked during the news conference:

Organization of the elections

Radev was asked whether he will release for gazzetting revisions
 to the Act on the Measures and Actions during the State of
Emergency, which enable quarantined patients and people under
mandatory isolation due to COVID to vote in mobile ballot boxes
but leave out more dramatic changes in the election procedure
that he had called for, including mail-in voting and
live-streaming of the ballot counting.

The President answered that "there is a certain consolidation of
 parties, organizations and citizens that the Election Code
should be revised to guarantee the fairness of voting and
accessibility of elections, including for Bulgarians abroad.
However, that did not happen: the legislature has come up with
yet another legal misapprehension by avoiding the Election Code
and acting through the Act on the Measures and Actions during
the State of Emergency," the President commented.

In his words, the question of "why they [the incumbents] are
afraid of video surveillance at the polling stations during the
vote counting and tally sheet processing" and "why they fear
voting by post by Bulgarians abroad", remain open.

The President's ideas were largely supported by
non-parliamentary parties which he met during consultations he
held before scheduling the elections, but did not get the
support that they need in the legislature to go through.

The recent protests against the cabinet

In 2020, which Radev called a year of "turbulent and dramatic
events", "the presidential institution continued to stand up for
 statehood and Bulgarians' interests, to act as a corrective and
 a last barrier to lawlessness and lobbyism, to set the agenda
for important topics, to rally people behind significant causes,
 to work for Bulgaria's modernization and defend the interests
of expatriate Bulgarians," said the President.

He insisted that when he stripped the government of his
confidence at the beginning of 2020, he showed political
responsibility against the "severe crisis of governance,
corruption and abuses, the disintegration of statehood and the
organized onslaught on civil liberties."

"The protests that erupted half a year later proved right my
confidence-stripping motives," the President pointed out. "The
presidential institution did not hide in the institutional
comfort zone but yet again lived up to the expectations of
Bulgarian people and backed the protesters' just grievances by
projecting a presence, insisting on resignations, making
addresses and directly appealing to the National Assembly," the
head of State said.

The COVID-19 crisis

"The presidential institution remained the voice of reason
during the coronavirus crisis. At the start of the crisis, I
insisted on balanced measures and timely financial support for
businesses. I insisted on setting up special hospitals for
COVID-19 treatment," Radev emphasized.

In his opinion, the lack of timely and adequate measures had a
serious effect on the health, social and economic situation in
Bulgaria.

Taking a question, Radev said he is not going to veto revisions
to the state-of-emergency legislation which passed conclusively
on January 28.

The revisions put the Health Minister and Chief Health Inspector
 in charge of setting in place epidemic control measures during
the elections and set out some technicalities involved in
holding elections during a pandemic.

The President's activity in the past year

"Standing up for the rule of law was a top priority. Even though
 five of the seven vetoes I imposed were overridden, the
reaction of experts and the public proved them right. The hard
line in defence of constitutionalism discouraged the authors of
the new Constitution, and this initiative ended even before it
was tabled," Radev stressed.

He was referring to a draft new constitution which the
power-holders promised to prepare when anti-government protests
flared up in the summer of 2020. They did as promised and put
forward a text but it failed to get the support it needed in the
 legislature to go through.

"The President's Administration recruited strong expertise and
proposed specific measures in the Recovery and Resilience Plan,
mapping out tangible reforms through education and innovations.
I expect the Government to come up with clear criteria for
selection of the project proposals," the President said.

He proposed five projects in critical policy areas, such as
education, energy and healthcare, and expects a quick response
from the Council of Ministers.

The option of veto on "special prosecutor"

Asked whether he will impose a veto on revisions to the Code of
Criminal Procedure that introduce a special prosecutor empowered
 to investigate the prosecutor general, the President said he
would address "this exotic proposal" with all due attention. He
added that his legal team "would feel real professional
satisfaction while dealing with this matter".

This legislature adopted the said revisions in January following
 recommendations by the Venice Commission of the Council of
Europe of late 2019 that Bulgaria needs to make sure the
Prosecutor General is not immune to possible criminal
prosecution. They went through despite the objections of the
opposition and the Supreme Judicial Council, and criticism by
the Venice Commission that proposed legislation does not address
 the core issue.

Position on Navalny

Asked about his position on the arrest of Russian opposition
leader Alexei Navalny and the events in Russia, President Radev
said his position on the case was clear long before Prime
Minister Boiko Borissov said anything about it.

"When peacefully protesting Bulgarians were beaten and arrested,
 he [Borissov] did not do anything to have the culprits
identified," Radev commented. He added that he has always been
"against violence and the arrests of peaceful protestors, in
Sofia, Moscow or elsewhere". According to Radev, "if Navalny was
 a Bulgarian, he would have investigated Borissov's nightstand,
while Borissov would have tried to burn him, as he threatened to
 do with [journalist-turn-MEP] Elena Yoncheva."

The President was referring to scandals after photos and an
audio file were leaked to the news media last year. The photos
were of Prime Minister Borissov's bedroom showing his nightstand
 with a drawer full of cash, lots of it. In the audio file, 
somebody sounding like the Prime Minister was telling the other
party that he personally ordered the Interior Ministry to
scrutinize guest houses built by the family of Elena Yoncheva.
In mid-January 2021, the prosecution service said an
investigation into the phone call found no evidence of a
criminal offence. As for the photos of Nothing has come out of a
 probe into the photos of the drawer full of cash either.

The construction of Turish Stream

President Radev also said that, along with defending Navalny, he
 expected the Bulgarian Prime Minister to answer other
critically important questions. "Why does he overlook the
interconnectors with the neighboring countries, which are
critically important for achieving Bulgaria's diversification
and already bogged for ten years, but made sure to build Turkish
 Stream through Bulgaria even though it was the least in
Bulgaria's interest of all stakeholders. When will there be a
real economic justification and real value of this project in
which 3 billion leva of our money were buried? And this was
loudly proclaimed a project for expansion of the national gas
transmission network, without any branches to Bulgarian
municipalities in dire need of gasification. When will Mr.
Borissov give a guarantee that this project, in which Bulgaria
invested this enormous sum by his decision, will pay back?"
Radev commented.

NV/LG, BR