site.btaMedia Review: November 6

POLITICS

All media cover the emerging results of the presidential election in the USA, where Donald Trump is thus far winning.

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The deadline for petitioning the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the October 27 elections is about to expire, BNT says. The fairness of the elections has been challenged over violations that became clear after several reports by the national television which provoked reactions from almost all parties.

Vazrazhdane said on Tuesday that they are filing a petition and are waiting for the signatures of representatives of the other parties. 

There Is Such a People (TISP) demanded a partial annulment of the vote.

Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) are in favour of a vote re-count and said they would support other petitioners. 

BSP – United Left have also started collecting signatures.

GERB also seems to be joining in. 

Ahmed Dogan's Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF), Velichie and Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) have said the vote should be annulled.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has already approached the Prosecutor's Office about seven polling stations for which there is evidence of violations through video surveillance. November 15 is the deadline for relevant institutions to petition the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the elections. The court, for its part, must rule within two months.

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“The first political force, GERB, are wasting time, there is no structured negotiation process. We lose ourselves in the political conversation because we talk through TV studios,” CC-DB’s Nadezhda Yordanova told BNT.

According to her, the Chair of the National Assembly is elected with a majority that can decide on anti-corruption issues in Bulgaria, and this excludes Delyan Peevski’s MRF - New Beginning (MRF-NB). She pointed out that the declaration of CC-DB proposing a sanitary cordon around Peevski was sent to all parties, but GERB have not given a straight answer.

Yordanova said that after GERB leader Boyko Borissov declared that he would not cooperate in any form with MRF-NB, nothing prevents him from signing the declaration to isolate Peevski.

She commented that the election of the Prosecutor General by the current Judicial Council could be stopped with a change in the Judicial System Act. She added that CC-DB will submit a request to verify the vote count.

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GERB are somehow trying to distance themselves by saying that neither MRF-NB, nor ARF are acceptable partners, but this way they are closing the door on CC-DB, predicted Assoc. Prof. Milen Lyubenov, political scientist and lecturer at Sofia University in an interview with BNR.

He commented on Boyko Borissov’s statement that if no government is formed under GERB’s mandate, there will be no government at all.

"A minority government would not be convenient for GERB, because it will be supported by MRF-NB and probably will find other support, but so Borisov and GERB will become a hostage of Peevski. They are well aware of this and in the last National Assembly felt relief when the Zhelyazkov cabinet did not pass. They will insist on a coalition with CC-DB and signing a coalition agreement, but the prospect is questionable with the hardening of CC-DB’s position," Lyubenov said.

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Liberalism is dying and this is exactly what is happening in the USA, said Tsoncho Ganev of Vazrazhdane on BNT’s morning show.

He added that it is a public secret that CC-DB are "the pets of the Democratic party in the USA" while Vazrazhdane share core values with the Republicans.

According to him, GERB are also involved in vote-buying schemes.

Regarding the annulment of the elections, he said that this "is not some universal remedy." A package of measures will be submitted by Vazrazhdane to the new parliament. One of them is to abolish paper ballot voting.

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Local chapters of MRF-NB turned against CC co-chair Kiril Petkov with posts on social networks, Trud writes. The reason for their actions was Petkov's comment that "there are many phantoms in Peevski's party and MRF-NB are an illegally elected party".

Kardzhali mayor Erol Myumyun said in a Facebook video message, "We are not phantoms. No one has the right to call the Bulgarian voter a phantom!"

"The leadership and assets of MRF-New Beginning in Razgrad region stand behind the words of MRF Chairman Mr. Delyan Peevski and unconditionally support his position against all attempts to replace the democratic vote and to defame our voters. His message is not an expression of a personal position, but the voice of hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian citizens who made the right choice - clear, firm and free."

Declarations were also made by the MRF-NB structures in Velingrad, Blagoevgrad, Sofia region, Sliven, Silistra and others.

MISCELLANEOUS

Russian energy group Lukoil is about to sell its largest asset on the Balkans, Lukoil Neftohim Burgas, to a Qatari-British consortium, Capital and Dnevnik report. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

Lukoil announced that it may sell its assets in Bulgaria at the end of last year. The main scenarios envisaged the buyer to be a strategic investor, an offshore company or a fund.

A few days later, on behalf of the then ruling coalition, the leaders of GERB and CC-DB Boyko Borisov and Kiril Petkov announced that a possible sale of the refinery in Burgas could not take place before it was approved by Parliament.

On the Russian side, approval must come from President Vladimir Putin.

A consortium between Oryx Global, controlled by Qatari businessman Ghanim Bin Saad Al-Saad, and London-based commodities trader DL Hudson has now been chosen as the preferred buyer. 

In 2023, Lukoil Neftohim Burgas, the largest company in Bulgaria, had BGN 8.6 billion in revenues and a profit of BGN 203.6 million.

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Taxi drivers are on protest alert, BNT reports. The reason is the drastic increase in the price of civil liability insurance, sometimes by over 1,000%.

According to the drivers, the price hike is not justified and they want the intervention of the Commission for Consumer Protection and the Commission for Protection of Competition.

Raising this insurance in such amounts is disproportionate to the revenue generated in the taxi industry and therefore they demand that the State intervene within two weeks, otherwise they are ready for a nationwide protest.

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More than 100 hospitals across the country will be equipped with modern respirators for emergency medical care. Their delivery starts on Wednesday, the national radio said.

Among the first hospitals to receive the machines are Sofia's hospitals Tsaritsa Yoanna – ISUL, Alexandrovska, and Pirogov.

The new machines are smart - they detect and analyse the patient's breathing needs and adjust themselves what gas mixture to supply to the patient.

In addition to hospitals, such advanced devices will be provided to 47 centres for emergency care.

The equipment was ordered by the Ministry of Health and purchased with European funds under the OP Regions in Growth.

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The caretaker government will approve humanitarian aid to international organizations totalling EUR 475,000, BNR reports.

The State's shareholding in the capital of Sofia Tech Park will also be increased to cover the operating costs of the Bulgarian supercomputer.

Municipalities will be allocated funds to compensate parents with children not enrolled in state and municipal kindergartens and schools.

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Mediapool runs an interview with Assoc. Prof. Stelian Dimitrov, Director of the National University Centre for Geospatial Research and Technology at Sofia University. A year ago, he alerted that State-sanctioned logging was among the causes of the tragic flooding in Tsarevo in the fall of 2023. As it turns out, even a year later, the ravines there have still not been surveyed, and there is a potential problem with a rebuilt bridge. Improper reforestation is among the causes of another flood - the one in Karlovo from more than a year ago.

“The felling was mostly done around roads, apparently to make it easy for companies to remove the felled trees. These are the results of incompetence, ignorance. This is the much scarier cause, because the other problems we can easily eradicate. However, when you do not have the capacity to understand these natural phenomena, this is where things get much scarier,” Dimitrov stressed.