There are already nine parties in parliament. The deputies from “Velichy“ took the oath. How complicated the new situation in the National Assembly has become for the “Zhelyazkov“ cabinet… Political scientist Milen Zhelev spoke to FACTI.
- Mr. Zhelev, and yet we have nine parties in parliament. With the decision of the Constitutional Court, law or democracy triumphs…
- I would say that both law and democracy triumphed regardless of whether I or anyone else likes the last political formation that entered – “Velichy“. And this is for the simple reason that over 97,000 people received their political representation. This shows that despite the many electoral abuses, despite the systemic problems of Bulgarian democracy, it still works.
The nine political forces in the 51st National Assembly show exactly this - democracy exists.
This probably scared some analysts, who have already asked for the 4% barrier to enter parliament to be lifted. Nevertheless, I think that it is good for small parties and small formations to be part of parliament, they are part of Bulgarian democracy, because this would help develop a coalition culture in the National Assembly.
- But the format of the new National Assembly changed after a decision by the Constitutional Court…
- For me, the biggest problem in this case was that we waited for this decision for nearly 5 months. People don't remember anymore, but the elections were at the end of October. I disagree, if you will allow me this personal opinion, with the opinion of Professor Yanaki Stoilov from the Constitutional Court that they needed so much technological time. In my opinion, no one can convince the Bulgarian people that this decision was made without a regular cabinet formed - that is, the new assembly. All this coincides with the vote on the budget and that all this is accidental. It is in the interest of Bulgarian citizens that such cases are resolved, let it not be within one night, when all the election papers are counted, but within a much shorter period. The truth is that this is an insanely long time and has shown the systemic weaknesses of Bulgarian democracy, respectively and the subsequent war between institutions and various interests, which are not always in the interests of the people.
- Why did you call the government “assembly“… How does it resemble the previous “coalition“…
- In Bulgaria, the word “coalition“ has become a byword for a coalition, but, in truth, Bulgarian society is much more positive about the current coalition, even though it consists of political formations that have diametrically opposed political views. In truth, it may not be somewhat correct to call it that, because according to some it is unprincipled, and according to others it is a necessary and possible coalition. Nevertheless, it seems a bit strange to a large part of Bulgarian citizens.
- The Constitutional Court informed the CEC to count all the ballots, but it was refused. If all the ballots had been counted…
- God only knows what would have happened. My opinion is that more publicity should be given to the fact that no matter how much we talk about whether all parties are scams, it was seen that mainly two political formations benefited from the election machinations - DPS - Novo nachlas and GERB/SDF. Let's be honest, because this is according to the official decision of the Constitutional Court. In this line of thought, I would say that no matter how many defects Bulgarian democracy has, the election rules need to be polished.
- And the paper vs. machine debate was raised again on the agenda…
- If you remember, years ago there was such an exam at the Faculty of Journalism on the topic: “Will the mouse eat the book?“ We all know the banal phrase that currently the election machines have been turned into expensive printers. In my opinion, it will be very difficult to impose 100% machine voting. And this for the simple reason that we can say that half of Bulgarian citizens are against it. We must also say that a large part of the political formations are skeptical of the machines. I am referring to the leader of the largest political coalition GERB/SDF, Boyko Borisov, who said how the machines are "touched". Accordingly, a large part of his electorate believes this and, respectively, many people are skeptical of the machines. Apart from that, no one can guarantee, of course, protection from electoral fraud with the machines. But at this stage they seem to be much more adequate than the human factor working with some papers.
- The deputies from the „Velichye“ party were sworn in to parliament. Is life getting harder for the „Zhelyazkov“ cabinet…
- The ten new MPs from “Majesty“ declared themselves as a current opposition. Yes, this will strengthen the opposition processes in the Bulgarian parliament. However, it is fair to say that this time there were no latecomers from “Majesty“ for the oath. I am referring to the previous appearance of “Majesty“ in the National Assembly last year, when the so-called Colonel Markov was not there.
- He said he was late for the oath…
- “Majesty“ will be in opposition and things look as if the current government will be supported by magic, because it has exactly 121 votes. In order to have a majority in parliament for any decision, they will have to seek new political support from other formations, which until now have seemed to be a vocal or silent opposition. Support for the government could come from the PP-DB, on the one hand, because this is the second political formation in the last elections. They would support possible pro-European policies. On the other hand, support would come - surprisingly or not, of course, from Delyan Peevski's “New Beginning“, which claims to be in opposition, but it is clear that on certain issues it thinks like the ruling party. GERB/SDF are in a coalition with the BSP and ITN, but with the support of Dogan's MRF, but they will need others as well.
- And in this line of thought, we heard Boyko Borisov say that without MRF – Delyan Peevski's New Beginning nothing can be adopted in parliament…
- I do not share this. It is true that Peevski seems to be an unavoidable factor, but in my opinion it is a matter of personal choice and a matter of party decision whether political formations should work or not. It is a fact that Peevski is an important factor, but that does not make him so unavoidable. It is a matter of personal and moral choice whether the cabinet will work with Peevski.