Through the actions of the Interior Ministry and the response of Bulgarian citizens, it has already been demonstrated that these elections will be among the fairest in the country’s recent history, caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov said in an interview with Nova TV on Sunday.
Gurov said that he and the members of his Cabinet are doing everything possible to ensure fair elections. High voter turnout would be a success, he noted. He added that while the caretaker Government cannot resolve all of the country’s problems, it can create the conditions for citizens, through their vote and representation, to set the country on a new path. Gurov stressed that he relies on citizens’ civic engagement and sense of responsibility.
The prime minister said that for him, the key issue is not the number of arrests, but the level of public trust built by the government. Reports submitted to the Interior Ministry regarding the elections have increased more than tenfold, he added.
Gurov also pointed to what he described as a serious institutional problem with the prosecution service. “We feel like insurgents,” he said, comparing the government to the Bulgarian volunteers from the time of the April Uprising. He argued that if those figures had believed the system could not be changed, Bulgaria would not be where it is today. Their actions, even if limited in scope, helped shift public attitudes, he added, noting that the current government is likewise trying to encourage citizens to be active and vote.
The prime minister said the Cabinet had expected to come under attack from the outset. He pointed to changes in the Government’s approach to citizens and institutions, which he said threaten those who rely on a “captured state” to maintain influence. “The fact that these people are attacking us now only shows that the masks have fallen,” Gurov said, adding that one of the Government’s main goals is to establish a new standard of governance.
/YV/