Fallout as Bulgaria’s political crisis takes new turn
Bulgarian President Roumen Radev’s refusal to decree the proposed caretaker cabinet because of the retention of Kalin Stoyanov in the interior ministry portfolio has meant a new turn in the country’s political crisis.
Widely seen as being backed by GERB-UDF leader Boiko Borissov and Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) co-leader Delyan Peevski, Stoyanov long has been the subject of calls by the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition for exclusion from government because the coalition does not trust him to ensure fair elections.
Stoyanov currently is caretaker Interior Minister in the Dimitar Glavchev caretaker cabinet that took office in April.
Rejecting his inclusion in the interim administration proposed by Prime Minister-designate Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, Radev said that calming the political situation and ensuring free elections would be impossible were Stoyanov included.
Grancharova-Kozhareva, the deputy head of the Audit Office named by Radev as PM-designate on August 9, refused to back down.
The photograph of the August 19 meeting between Grancharova-Kozhareva and Radev that was posted on the presidency’s official website.
After her meeting with Radev, Grancharova-Kozhareva said that she was lodging a report with the Prosecutor-General’s office that she had come under political pressure not to include Stoyanov in the proposed interim government.
Grancharova-Kozhareva did not identify the subject of her allegations, nor was it immediately clear which law was the basis for her complaint.
She appeared with Stoyanov to speak to reporters in the company of Stoyanov, whom she went to see after her meeting with Radev.
Outside the Presidency building, police sounded sirens and held up posters backing Stoyanov. This was the latest incident in recent days in which Interior Ministry employees were gathered to show support for Stoyanov. Photographs of Grancharova-Kozhareva and Stoyanov speaking to the media, and of the protesting police, were posted on the official Interior Ministry website.
Stoyanov told reporters that he wanted to thank the protesting police for this “spontaneous reaction”, opposing “unprecedented attempts to control the Interior Ministry system”.
On Facebook, the reformist We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB) coalition said that it noted that Radev had taken advantage of the opportunities afforded him by the constitutional amendments in not accepting the administration proposed by Grancharova-Kozhareva.
WCC-DB said that it was inviting the Speaker of the National Assembly and all parliamentary groups with the exception of the Peevski faction of the MRF for talks on August 20.
These talks were to focus on electing a person of high public trust as deputy head of the Audit Office, and options for the fastest completion of the constitutional procedure for choosing a government, WCC-DB said.
The constitutional amendments approved in 2023 limit the president’s choices in choosing a caretaker Prime Minister to a set list of top public office-bearers, including the deputy head of the Audit Office.
Dzhevdet Chakurov, the MRF’s other co-leader and a member of the faction that has remained loyal of MRF founder Ahmed Dogan against Peevski, welcomed Radev’s refusal to decree the proposed government because of Stoyanov “given his consideration that this creates political tension in a pre-election situation.
All political groups must sit at the table and talk to find a way out of the situation, Chakurov said.
Backing for Radev’s move also came from Parliament’s second-smallest group, the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Glavchev, who previously had said that he did not want to be caretaker PM again – opening the way for the appointment of Grancharova-Kozhareva – said on August 19 that he would carry out his duties as caretaker PM “for as long as is necessary to prevent the country from falling into a constitutional crisis”.
“It is my duty to see the country through this unprecedented situation. Given the current situation and if this would prevent further institutional blockage, I declare that I am ready to participate in the constitutional procedure for the appointment of caretaker Prime Minister,” Glavchev said.
The current situation leaves it unclear when Bulgaria will hold the early parliamentary elections that had been expected to be held on October 20.
In the first five hours after Radev’s decision to refuse to decree the caretaker government because of Stoyanov, there was no public reaction from Borissov and Peevski.
(Main photo: Interior Ministry)
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