site.btaOutgoing PM Denkov: Keeping Interior, E-Governance Ministers in Caretaker Cabinet Would Cast Shadow over Election Integrity

Speaking to the media following a ceremony on the occasion of Bulgaria's accession to Schengen by air and sea on Sunday, outgoing Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said that fair elections cannot be held with “people who cannot be trusted". Denkov noted that keeping outgoing Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov and E-Governance Minister Alexander Yolovski in the caretaker cabinet would cast a shadow over the integrity of the upcoming snap parliamentary elections.

The outgoing Prime Minister said that he had lost trust in Stoyanov and Yolovski when it came to "some appointments in the regional directorates [of the Interior Ministry] and the local elections." Denkov was referring to the machine voting controversy that surrounded the 2023 local elections and the large-scale replacement of police chiefs across the country undertaken by Stoyanov last summer.

Denkov praised the contribution Stoyanov and his team made to Bulgaria’s Schengen accession but implied that nothing has been done to fight vote-buying in the recent local elections.

Commenting on the caretaker prime minister-designate Dimitar Glavchev, Denkov said that he was taken aback by "the attempts to portray Dimitar Glavchev as having no connection to GERB". "This is ridiculous," Denkov exclaimed, voicing hope that Glavchev will assert his authority and form a cabinet that will not raise doubts about election fairness.

"We need to unite again. I will do my best to help the next prime minister get the country on the path of reforms again as fast as possible," Denkov added. "We have not elected members of the anti-corruption commission. We do not have a functioning anti-corruption body, because the work of the National Assembly in this area came to a standstill in January. We need to get the reforms back on track if we want [to restore] the confidence in Bulgaria," the outgoing Prime Minister noted.

"I will do everything in my power to make sure a caretaker government is formed," Denkov said, adding that he has not been approached by Glavchev.