Consultations at “Dondukov” 2: “Velichie” demands guarantees for fair elections and an end to repression

Ivelin Mihaylov (Ивелин Михайлов) held talks with Vice President Iliana Yotova (вицепрезидент Илияна Йотова) regarding the priorities of the caretaker government for holding fair elections and the need to uncover the truth about political blackmail, electoral manipulation, and economic pressure exercised by the status quo against independent actors and citizens.

Below is the full and detailed transcript of the conversation from the consultations at the presidency, with spelling and punctuation edited for better readability, while preserving the original meaning and manner of expression:

Opening remarks by Vice President (вицепрезидент) Iliana Yotova

Iliana Yotova: “Good afternoon, welcome! I am glad... Hello, good afternoon!

Dear Mr. Chairman of the parliamentary group (председател на парламентарната група), dear Professor Mateeva – Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly (заместник-председател Народно събрание), Mr. Petrov – you in your capacity as Deputy Chairman (заместник-председател) of the group. Thank you once again for responding to our invitation.

For me and my team, these consultations are extremely important, because we are facing elections – yet another round of early elections. But I believe that all of us are guided by the understanding and the desire that the state must not stop functioning, that we must try to resolve the most urgent problems of Bulgarian citizens, both in the remaining days of the resigning government and during the caretaker cabinet. You will continue to work, according to the Constitution, as Members of Parliament (народни представители) until the election of the next National Assembly.

The challenges before us are very harsh, I would say. These are troubling days, with everything that has happened, which, I admit, is a very serious trauma for all of us as Bulgarians. And I strongly hope that all competent authorities and services will do their job. We need transparency, we need solutions, and in my view, a very deep and substantive dialogue among all of us – not only as institutions, but as Bulgarians.

Above all, the caretaker cabinet must resolve the issue of the elections – to ensure they are fair, transparent, and well organized. In fact, I hardly need to explain this to your party, since you yourselves became hostages of the previous elections. And for the first time in our history, in our recent history, elections have been annulled due to errors and abuses during the electoral process.

At the same time, while Parliament continues to function and you act as Members of Parliament (народни представители), we must address how to stabilize the country’s finances. We are working under conditions in which the budget is an extended budget – one twelfth, which is not a eurozone budget. We have no protective measures for the most vulnerable. Prices are rising every day and, despite what I believe is the willingness and capacity of our authorities to exercise some form of control, unfortunately, so far the results have not been encouraging.

We have undertaken foreign policy commitments. Some of them will also have to pass through the National Assembly. I have always wanted our country to be as predictable as possible for our partners in Europe and around the world, and that depends on you.

I do not expect us today to discuss names for a caretaker Prime Minister (служебен министър-председател), but your position on what the future caretaker cabinet must accomplish is extremely important, and through you it will become known as the position of the Bulgarian public. Several times, both a group of Members of Parliament (народни представители) and President (президент) Rumen Radev (Румен Радев) have referred the issue of these constitutional amendments to the Constitutional Court (Конституционен съд). Regardless, as of today we are working under these amendments, observing the texts and literally every letter of the Constitution.

Therefore, I will expect to hear from you both the most urgent priorities and how they can be addressed. Your assessment and your recommendations on how to conduct the elections in a way that restores Bulgarian citizens’ trust in the electoral process. So that every person who wishes to vote and has the right – not only under the Constitution, but as an intrinsic human right – is truly respected and their vote is genuinely counted.