site.btaPresident Accuses Interior Ministry of Succumbing to Political Pressure, "Measly Interest in Fair Elections"

President Rumen Radev said Monday that the leadership of the Interior Ministry has shown "measly interest" in the fairness of the October 27 snap parliamentary elections and this was due not to a lack of professionalism but to succumbing to political pressure. The head of State took part in the 17th ceremony of awarding the winners of the Manager of the Year contest in Sofia.

Radev argued that the leadership of the Ministry of Interior did not meet public expectations.

"When we talk about the Interior Ministry, we should very clearly distinguish the passive from the proactive activity of this department," he said.

"The passive consists in reacting when they receive alerts and there were many. The real commitment of the Ministry of Interior leadership to the fairness of the vote lies in proactive activity - preventive and operational work. It is quantified in the number of warning protocols and, something important that is missing in the Ministry's report, the requests for the use of special intelligence mean. These two indicators in the last elections were five to eight times less than those during the caretaker governments I appointed," the President added.