Maya Manolova is running again for Ombudsman, after a few years ago she preferred the battle for the mayor's seat of Sofia.
The very inclusion of the Ombudsman in the House Book is a constitutional and moral absurdity. Election of an acting Prime Minister through the “back door”. Throughout my life, I have defended the rights of citizens as a lawyer, MP, Ombudsman and civic activist. In a situation where there has been no Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman for 1 year now, my team and I play the role of a civic Ombudsman to help people. If citizens chose, I would have no competition”, commented the chairman of “Stand Up.BG” in the studio of the show “Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov” on NOVA NEWS.
Manolova talks about how she will gather political support to be elected as the country's ombudsman. “My candidacy for ombudsman has been nominated by 23 civil society organizations - human rights, consumer, patient, environmental, organizations of people with disabilities, pensioner unions, youth platforms. My campaign is conducted through meetings with people”, she said.
According to her, society needs an ombudsman who is not just a registry clerk. “Someone who will be on the ground, and will not make people go there”, Manolova pointed out.
She called on the media to hold a public debate between the six ombudsman candidates. “The election of the Ombudsman was washed away, it is not known that there are such candidates”, added Manolova.
Then she commented on the topic of creating state-owned grocery stores in the country. “The text in the Budget is very laconic, it does not talk about post offices at all, but about creating a state-owned commercial company. The finance and agricultural ministers were supposed to talk about these stores, but this did not happen”, added Manolova.
”With the boycott of the stores, the citizens defeated the retail chains and a bill that has been talked about for years – is now a fact. Any civic activity is important because it makes people and institutions take the people into account”, she explained.