We are in an election campaign. This is that period in which politics is reduced to meetings, smiles and photos, and important topics and issues are once again pushed into a corner. If the PR of the candidates for deputies this time is once again exhausted by the cheerful tone - “look how good it is and what we have done”, without a vision for the future and without an answer to the question: ”from here to where” - their parties will receive a bare ho from the voters on election day. No excuses.
Don't push cheap PR tricks from the last century on citizens! Don't underestimate their intelligence and their flair for detecting fakery!
They may have worked once, when information was scarce, and citizens were more passive. Today, however, people see, compare and remember. And most of all, they feel the lie. That's why all these shiny posters, hollow messages and boastful reports are best left in the mothball chest, along with the illusions of impunity.
Bulgaria has no problem with the lack of lavish election campaigns. Elections are a pain. Bulgaria has a problem with the lack of vision. It lacks a national doctrine - a long-term framework that does not change with each change of power and is followed by all governments, regardless of their party color. A doctrine that clearly states what kind of country we want to be in 5, 10, 20 and 30 years, what kind of economy we are developing, how we are protecting the national interest and what place we are looking for for Bulgaria in Europe and the Balkans.
Without such a vision, governance becomes the administration of chaos and corruption. In the distribution of public procurement contracts, in the transfer of responsibilities and in the imitation of reforms. Bulgaria does not need administrators, liars and mafias who imagine themselves to be statesmen. It does not need the next "saviors" with providences who appear cyclically before elections and disappear immediately after them. Bulgaria needs people with providence - with thought, character and courage to take responsibility.
Today's voter is no longer bought with a billboard, a newspaper or a casual meeting with employees of the municipal administration, party structures and their families. Not even with a little TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, full of clichés, self-promotion, empty smiles or attacks on the opponent. This trick no longer works, no matter how much they try to repeat it. We live in a country with a population of one large city and everyone knows who is who, what they have done and what their "game" is.
Citizens need the truth, even when it is inconvenient. They need a clear, honestly presented plan for the development of Bulgaria. A plan that will place our country at the center of the Balkans and Europe - not as a periphery, but as a factor with its own voice, economic weight, strategic importance and spiritual path.
Whoever has the courage to speak like this, who offers a vision instead of slogans and blueprints, and a plan instead of PR, will be recognized. And will win. Not because it is the loudest and most attractive, but because it is the most true and authentic.
Votes can be bought, but not all of them can be bought.