Bulgaria’s caretaker Deputy Prime Minister for Fair Elections resigns

A day after taking office as caretaker Deputy Prime Minister for Fair Elections as part of the Andrei Gyurov interim administration, Stoil Tsitselkov announced his resignation on February 20.

Tsitselkov ‘s appointment to the caretaker Cabinet, the line-up of which was announced by Gyurov on February 18, had been the subject of allegations by parliamentary groups opposed to the Gyurov administration, that Tsitselkov  had used marijuana and had been taken into custody for drink-driving.

Speaking to reporters at the Cabinet building, Tsitselkov  said that he faced no charges, had no convictions and would take court action against the illegal dissemnation of personal data.

“For two days now, there has been a massive attack against me. It is not personal. I am simply a convenient target,” Tsitselkov said.

“This is an attack on the Cabinet and its main mission – fair elections. This is an attack by circles that know that if the elections are according to the rules, they will not win,” he said.

Tsitselkov said that the attacks were a last-ditch fight to retain influence.

“I will not allow this type of politics to drag down the work of the Cabinet,” he said

“Politics should be a field of ideas and actions, not a hunt for people, illegal use of archives. My criminal record is clean, as is my conscience. Fair elections are more important than any one person. This is a cause that I have been fighting for for more than 20 years.”

Tsitselkov  said that he had had a difficult conversation with Gyurov.

“I spoke with Prime Minister Gyurov, the conversation was not easy. In such a situation, there are no easy solutions, I received tremendous support from the team.

“We are looking for the right way to defend this cause and fair elections, and it seems that at this moment my personality rather brings negativity, purely media-wise, to our cause. We will meet in court with everyone who tarnished my name,” Tsitselkov said.

The government information service said that Gyurov had accepted Tsitselkov’s resignation. Because this is a caretaker administration, the resignation will not be voted on by Parliament, but will be promulgated in the State Gazette by President Iliyana Yotova.

Gyurov told reporters: “Fair elections are a cause bigger than us, than any single minister“.

He said that the attack was primarily aimed at the Cabinet.

“I have spoken to all the ministers in the Cabinet based on their expertise. Mr. Tsitselkov was the right person for this task,” Gyurov said.

“I expect you to judge us by our work. Unfortunately, he did not get the opportunity to prove his expertise in his work and actions,” he said.

Gyurov said that no one had attacked Tsitelkov claiming that he lacked experience.

“The attack is aimed at the Cabinet and at being able to hold fair elections. Today I take responsibility for this election,” Gyurov said.