site.btaPresident Radev: Resignations Not the Issue, Control over Ministers Is

Asked whether he will call for Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov's resignation after criticizing his efforts to preserve the fairness of the vote in the Oct. 27 elections, President Rumen Radev argued that "resignations are not the issue, control over ministers is". Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, he drew attention to the constitutional amendments that reduced his powers in appointing caretaker governments.

"If I were appointing the caretaker government, we would not be witnessing such state weakness and the rise of oligarchy with appetites for political power," he said.

Earlier in the day, approached to comment on remarks by Radev that the Interior Ministry failed to ensure the fairness of elections, caretaker Prime Minister Glavchev said that appointments on the caretaker Government were made in dialogue with the President. "If he is dissatisfied with the Interior Minister, he can ask for his replacement," Glavchev stressed.