site.btaUPDATED Forming Government Depends Entirely on Parties - President Radev

Whether and under what conditions there will be a government depends entirely on the parties and I hope they have learned their lesson - the hard lesson that they have to put public interests before their own," President Rumen Radev told journalists after voting at the McGahan Vocational School of Transportation Systems here on Sunday. The head of State opted for machine voting.

The refusal to protect national interests leads to undermining the credibility of institutions, the head of State added. According to him, this is the guarantee for a stable government. "I expect there to be concrete steps in this direction," he added. The refusal to defend the national interest inevitably leads to party and personal delegitimization, undermines the credibility of the institutions and the very foundations of the democratic process, President Radev said.

Civic activism is not limited to showing up at the polls, the President said, adding that citizens should remember what politicians have promised and seek it. Before every election, party orators are scaring the public that the President will form a party, only so that they can then "better assemble their own assemblage", Radev said, referring to the previous powerholders from GERB-UDF, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, whose joint rule is often times referred to as an "assemblage", which carries a negative connotation. He was answering a question whether he is ready to come on the political stage with a new project if a regular government is not formed.

"It's high time the parties lead and form a government based on values, shared programmes, on the public interest being forward and leading, not out of fear of not being in power. But if they continue like this with unprincipled coalitions, sooner or later such an alternative will emerge," the head of state said.

"The last few elections and "assemblages" have ruthlessly stripped the clothes of many parties and politicians, and they are now wondering how to hide their private parts," the President said.

In all the elections, problems with [voting] machines appear somewhere, it is inevitable with so many devices, but machine voting is one barrier against the main problem in our elections - invalid ballots, Rumen Radev said. Whether the caretaker government had managed to organize the elections can be discussed after the election day was over, he noted.