Български
EnglishNikolay Kolev from the program Delnitsi talks with Ivelin Mihaylov about the high electricity bills and corruption in the energy sector, the violence against advocates for fair elections in Gurkovo and Kardzhali, as well as the double standards of the prosecution and the media in covering the so-called “paramilitary organizations” and the political pressure on Velichie.
Guest appearance and media censorship
Host: Here in our studio is now Ivelin Mihaylov, chairman of the parliamentary group of the political party Velichie in the 51st National Assembly. Welcome, Mr. Mihaylov.
Ivelin Mihaylov: Thank you, Mr. Kolev. It is always an honor and a pleasure to come here to your program and inform the viewers about the most important events happening in Bulgaria, because the other televisions – bTV, BNT, and Nova – lie and serve the authorities. You are the only television that presents all points of view.
Host: Thank you for the assessment. Since you mentioned the viewers, you know that this program is broadcast live on YouTube, on our channel. They may have questions for you. I will read some of them. You agree to answer, right?
Ivelin Mihaylov: Yes.
Host: So, if you have questions for Ivelin Mihaylov – within reasonable limits, let us keep a good tone and good manners, because that will help us. And now let us begin… where to begin, I am wondering. We can start with electricity, if you like, because this is a topical issue. Today the newspaper 24 Chasa came out with a big headline – the viewers will see it now: “Cold weather plus holidays and electricity bills up by 30–40%”.
Electrical feudalism and the energy mafia
Ivelin Mihaylov: Today I received a call from such an organization of small and medium-sized businesses, and they say: “Let us do something, we are going under, we cannot pay, the electricity bills are enormous.” We predicted this a long time ago, and the reason is the failure to complete the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, which is the fastest way to reduce electricity prices, and instead the construction of many photovoltaic and wind power plants, against which, as you know, we have been fighting for a long time.
I will tell you the reason. Boyko Borissov, you know what an exceptional audacity he has, how he came out and said they had taken 4 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. In fact, they took this money to install solar panels and wind generators, and with them the bills that people are paying now go directly into the pockets of Boyko Borissov, Delyan Peevski, and Ivo Prokopiev – Kapital. These people turned us into electrical feudal serfs – they took our land, the most fertile and best Bulgarian land, installed photovoltaics and wind generators. With this old electricity transmission network, which is not suitable for such facilities, there are huge losses along the route, so that their calculations work out.
This money – 4.5 billion – should have been for photovoltaics on the roofs of people’s houses, and people should now be paying 50% less for electricity, but instead they are paying 100% more. So I can say thank you… a month ago, now I can say thank you to Boyko Borissov, Delyan Peevski, and Ivo Prokopiev – Kapital. And you know what kind of campaign they carried out against Historical Park, because they wanted to install wind generators there as well, to make electricity even more expensive for people. They also wanted to install them in Varna, in the sea, to destroy tourism. These are the people in power. They are directly stealing from people right now, because a nuclear power plant cannot be theirs. It must be state-owned and provide low prices.
Relations with MECH and Kiro Breyka
Host: Now I will continue with a few questions from our viewers. One viewer has noticed that the supposedly feuding groups of Velichie and MECH voted together as a package this week. Is this a coincidence?
Ivelin Mihaylov: Well, look, we are not feuding with MECH. We have a common intransigence toward Borissov and Peevski and their factions. When we entered the National Assembly, we said that we would fight against the mafia model. Now we see Radostin Vasilev, that his main fight is to strip Kiro Breyka naked and take his money, to impose seizures on him. I am simply saying that we follow the trend. We want all Bulgarian citizens to be able to vote. I am truly outraged by what Radostin Vasilev said here – that Bulgarians in Turkey are mentally deficient, because he said that Bulgarians in Western Europe were at least normal, implying that these are not, which is a great insult to Bulgarian citizens.
Host: Well, Kiro Breyka… our viewer asks: “Mr. Mihaylov, what can we do to help bat Kiro Breyka?”.
Ivelin Mihaylov: Well, what we need to do is simply support this type of people and support them when politicians stand against the people, as MECH, Radostin Vasilev, and Rastashki did. A politician cannot wage war against the people or against journalists.
Election fraud in Kardzhali
Ivelin Mihaylov: I wanted to tell you something else before we answer the next questions regarding the elections, since I have been in Kardzhali for three days and that is why I am not in the National Assembly today. I went there to investigate how the election process works. What is happening in Kardzhali? In one village there are 108 registered people. DPS say that there must be 120 votes, even though there are 70 people in the village. And the mayor wonders what to do. She has 108 registered. Fine, the 38 people who are not there will be written into the ballots. But then she starts telling people to call their relatives abroad and say that they were there and voted, in order to reach 120 votes. In Kardzhali there is some kind of slaughter.
What we want to do is organize 580 Bulgarian citizens to go there and protect the elections. We have a guarantee from a person who has participated in elections for many years that if people from Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, from abroad – Bulgarians – go and become members of sectional election commissions and observers, and they perform their duties, the sectional election commissions will not submit protocols to the RIC. And then the RIC will not close election day.
The beaten man in Gurkovo and the inaction of the prosecution
Ivelin Mihaylov: I want us to show a photo of a man who fought for fair elections in Gurkovo. I want viewers to see this man, because these are shocking images. Not images of that… Images of the man with the bloodied head. Look what is happening. This man fights for fair elections in Gurkovo and they almost kill him. He goes to the chief prosecutor Sarafov (who is still legitimate… now we know he is illegitimate). Here he is, look how badly he was beaten. This is an industrialist from Gurkovo who fights for fair elections.
He is beaten, he goes to the chief prosecutor, and when the chief prosecutor understands that it is about vote buying, he says: “We cannot deal with political matters” and sends him away.
Paramilitary organizations and double standards
Ivelin Mihaylov: Now why am I telling you all this? Because the chief prosecutor also went out yesterday to comment on the case of the three executed people who were in the Petrohan villa. I start hearing about “paramilitary organizations”, that these people were “heavily armed”. Wait a minute, you had such things as well. Here, the same with us. With us they showed pictures from airsoft. With these people they say they were heavily armed. One is an accountant, and a very good person. Another is a lawyer for a large English company, and the third, I think, is a diver. These people had two pistols and one rifle, which the investigating police found.
Immediately Colonel Markov appeared with Ivelin Nikolov and said that all green organizations should be banned, all organizations that have drones. I will tell you why – they got scared of the people who will protect the elections. And it would not be surprising if this was an execution ordered by Borissov and Peevski.
Ivelin Mihaylov: Now let us show the jeeps, so we can make an association. Look, these are jeeps of an organized group that goes to Bokovlak to fight another group of vote buyers. Look at these jeeps. And they say: “We are coming to shoot directly.” This looks like a military column to me. These are pumped-up people. There are MMA fighters, boxers here. Look, here they are, 700–800 people. The elections have not been announced yet, but they are already showing: “We have set off.” They immediately did this in Bokovlak as a demonstration. They burn tires, spin their cars, and the police guard them and do not allow people to film.
Why do we not ban these paramilitary organizations? Why do we not want to ban drug dealers who distribute near schools? And instead they go and present some cultured people as a paramilitary organization. Colonel Markov will go, and various journalists will go and practice on this topic. Today they called me from BNR and asked: “Can Darin Georgiev talk?”, because he was supposed to tell them about paramilitary organizations, he knew more. I say: What paramilitary organizations? These people have two pistols and one rifle.
Crime, illegal logging, and hunting estates
Host: Ah, a moment, let me interrupt you. You also had a private army, right?
Ivelin Mihaylov: Yes, I have a private army… They took my weapons away under the pretext that I had too many. I just want to tell you that yesterday I said online that I know criminal killers who walk free with illegal weapons, and they say: “How do you know them?”. Well, we all know them. We can go for a walk together and I will show you killers who are in Varna. The biggest vote buyer is a murderer of a businessman, proven. The police have a recording and they hold him with that, to make him carry out orders. The police crush people.
We discovered 12,000 landfills, Mr. Kolev, we filed signals to the authorities and they did nothing. Merdin Bayram cuts forests everywhere. All forestry enterprises are doing this right now. That is where the money for buying votes will come from. Logging in Karlovo… You know what they did – the villages destroyed by floods because of uncontrolled logging. I will tell you, for 20 years in the Velinski Balkan there has been a man, Geo Dundarov, who has a hunting estate where people are beaten so that Boyko and others can go there to hunt. At the same time, a DANS officer told me that when he went to Boyko at a hunting estate, a woman was massaging his genitals while he was talking to the DANS officer. The authorities use them to carry out all kinds of orgies.
Contract killings and intimidation
Ivelin Mihaylov: What is happening with these “executions” is ordered by Borissov and Peevski to intimidate us for the elections. We remember how Alexey Petrov was killed. We remember how Karo was killed. These people are carrying out these killings now to scare us. You see what a brutal execution, and they keep us busy with nonsense. They say these people were pedophiles. There was an organization that caught pedophiles – how many have you seen executed? Not a single one.
Why does DANS not investigate when I say that they want to bribe me or coerce me? Why does DANS not investigate vote manipulation? They will want to ban drones and the weapons of ordinary people, but they will not ban Methodiy from Bokovlak from having weapons, because he is not afraid of going to prison. Or the state that controls the mafia wants mafiosos to kill and beat people, and the police to protect them.
About the mayor of Vetrino and pressure on municipalities
Host: There is an interesting question, no name though: “I want to ask Ivelin why he supports a GERB mayor in his own municipality?”.
Ivelin Mihaylov: Well, look, in our municipality there are no crimes. There were zero, while everything was as it should be. In 2020 I reported an illegal landfill. Then Kapital came, wrote an article against me, and Georgi Andreev – this is a BSP MP – filed 15 reports against me, to the police, DANS, NRA, all services, that I have a paramilitary organization. It started back then, because I fight so that there is no illegal landfill. And in the end a Varna gangster came to demand protection money from me. Look how it works: those from Kapital smear people, then those in power file reports to the state, and when the gangster comes, you say: “Well, it is normal that he was beaten or killed”.
Now I will tell you why the mayor is from GERB. Because the mayor does his job. The mayor could also move to Velichie, but under this power what will happen to the municipality of Vetrino will be the same thing that happened to me. They froze all my accounts, blocked everything, destroyed a business. This is how they destroy municipalities and suffocate everything.
The Election Code and the future of Velichie
Host: What is happening now with what is being discussed in parliament as changes to the Election Code?
Ivelin Mihaylov: Well, look, what is being discussed is commissioned by GERB and DPS, and Vazrazhdane are carrying out this commission. We see that Vazrazhdane and MECH play a lot with those in power. Vazrazhdane introduced this bill with the excuse that people in Turkey would not vote. But they can come by buses. And what about the people in England? What about the people in the United States?
Host: Is there a chance that you will not enter the next parliament?
Ivelin Mihaylov: Look, you correctly said “chance”, because there is no such chance. That is a probability that will not happen. On the contrary, Velichie will have between 30 and 50 MPs. But if you notice, not only in the media, but also online, Velichie is not mentioned. We are not given airtime on national televisions. Velichie is a banned word. But we will enter the next National Assembly and we will be a key factor.
We have released a film about the work done. Show me one party that has done any work. We have done in nine months ten times more work than all parties combined have done in 36 years.
The budget and the economic catastrophe
Host: And if the budget is adopted, what will happen…
Ivelin Mihaylov: And if the budget is adopted, what will happen is that these people will cement themselves and steal everything. As we have said, we will register for the vote and then leave, because we are totally opposed to the theft. Boyko Borissov goes around explaining how well he has governed. Electricity prices show how Boyko Borissov governs. Food prices, healthcare, and education show how Boyko Borissov governs.
The chairman of KRIB, Kiril Domuschiev, said today that Bulgaria has one of the most expensive electricity prices in the world. This is because of them. If we had taken a loan of 5 billion to complete the nuclear power plant, we would not be in this situation. The fewer people there are in Bulgaria and the longer Borissov and Peevski govern, the more expensive life will become.
Host: Thank you very much for today’s appearance.
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