On April 2, 17 days before the early parliamentary elections, the Ministry of Interior announced that the price of a bought vote is between 50 and 100 euros, and nearly 500 thousand euros were seized by the Bulgarian authorities - funds intended for buying votes.
In the “Interview of the Day“ on BTV, Prof. Vesselin Vuchkov, former Minister of Interior, lawyer and university lecturer, commented on the topic.
“The role of the police and the Ministry of Interior in general in the role of an election campaign is overestimated. Above all, the activity of the Ministry of the Interior is preventive, but as part of the entire responsibility for guaranteeing free and democratic elections, the role of the Ministry of the Interior should not be overestimated. It is no more than 30-40%, really. But at least in this volume it seems to me that the Ministry of the Interior, in the person of the police structures, and also the leadership - political and professional, demonstrates an activity that is completely expected and which I fully approve of“, said Prof. Vuchkov.
He emphasized that this increases trust in the police, but does not guarantee completely fair elections: “It is still too early to say whether this will be enough to fully guarantee free democratic elections. There are many other institutions that need to get down to work seriously. The Prosecutor's Office and the National Security Agency should also not be underestimated.“
Prof. Vuchkov also commented on the importance of pre-trial proceedings: “The best prevention against a bought vote in the next elections is for those who have now committed a crime against political rights to receive a criminal sanction, if possible, and go to prison.“
He added that according to experts, the bought vote is about 150-200 thousand votes, and the most effective way to reduce its influence is high voter turnout.
As for the prosecutor's office, Prof. Vuchkov commented: “We have an awful lot of institutions on this topic, which are constantly operating. The Supreme Judicial Council with two relatively separate internal divisions, we have a constantly operating inspectorate at the SJC, we even have an inspectorate at the Chief Prosecutor's Office... But here we are touching on a larger topic. The prosecutor's office owes us as citizens a debt for revealing the objective truth in several important, major cases from the last 3-4 years.“
He listed key cases related to the insufficient work of the prosecutor's office: “One of the most important cases is precisely the “Eight Dwarfs“... Well, this case was not unraveled... There are two other examples that were never clarified before the citizens, which show exactly how the conquered state operates. For example, what was this explosion against the car of the former Chief Prosecutor Mr. Geshev? What happened around the murder of Alexei Petrov?“
Prof. Vuchkov also commented on the role of the prosecutor's office in the “Petrokhan“ case: “The laws are built in our country so that the prosecutor's office is the master of the entire investigation. The police themselves can do almost nothing without the consent of the prosecutor. The role is exceptional, including in communication with civil society. Indeed, there were very big communication mistakes made there, maybe there are some professional mistakes inside, but the prosecutor's office is a huge debtor.“
The interview ended with a discussion of the challenges facing the police regarding the case of the prosecutor's son Vasil Mihaylov: “This is a stress test for the system. All tools and potential must really be mobilized, especially the so-called detectives from all levels of the Bulgarian police. In the coming days, this boy must finally be caught, because otherwise the accumulated sympathy for the Bulgarian police may decrease.“