From Prof. Daniel Valchev's Facebook profile:
Dear compatriots,
(I'm just kidding)
Dear friends, respected thinking people,
I allow myself to write these lines because in recent weeks I have heard a lot about the upcoming presidential elections (including my participation in them) and from within I am pushed to say what I think. Ah, I think I owe it to him to some extent.
I heard that Mr. Gyurov was motivated (passive verb) to run for president, but he had not decided (active verb, but so far without action). One wonders why then for months an entire team has been going with him to film and distribute footage of how deftly he shaves, how he carelessly sings along to a song whose lyrics he clearly does not know, and how he runs smiling without a drop of sweat. Otherwise, if his Hamlet-like hesitation ended with the fact that “he will be”, what he would have been was a citizen candidate.
Mr. Kandev had not decided whether to enter politics. Otherwise, he would have left the Ministry of Interior because he was undervalued. I'm not sure what it means to be undervalued, given that you hold the position of Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which (as far as I know) is the highest professional position for a police officer. And who leaves their job with a statement to the media if they don't plan on engaging in public activities? But who am I to ask?
Mr. Borisov is mysteriously silent, trying to create the impression that he holds some cards. He may hold cards, but this time the competition is a bit steeper. And he knows that he is a bit overweight and is wondering how to cheat the law of gravity. The law has been getting in his way for a while.
Ms. Yotova acted most manly, openly declaring that she will run for president. True, she also mentioned that she will be a citizen candidate, which in summary leads us to the logical conclusion that there are probably no politicians in politics. But citizens – God has given me plenty.
And now to the question - whether, after speaking ill of others, I intend to say something about myself. Yes, I do, and it is very brief: I will not run in the upcoming presidential elections. I thank the thousands of people who encouraged me, and I am sorry if I disappoint them. But this is my decision. I admit that at one point I hesitated a lot - I had begun to flatter myself (probably completely unfoundedly) that I could do good things from such a position. In recent weeks, however, I have once again become convinced that I am exactly where I want to and where I need to be - a place that gives me the right to think critically and from which I can freely express my opinion.
It is no secret that politics in our country has long been something like a cross between mud baths and greasy fights. Not that I didn't know it before, but the last few months have struck me with the attempts to structure this whole mess as an advertising campaign for promotional goods. But then, credit to those who are ready to go through with it. As long as they go through with their true faces and their true motives.
And since in these elections, as it turned out, everyone will turn out to be citizen candidates, finally I'd like to say something about the citizens. In Bulgaria, civil society is often talked about, with the speaker most often suffering and whining - how fragile it is or how it doesn't exist at all. Let me say what I think.
Civil society is not the on-duty spokespeople who explain to us what the citizens think (i.e. what we think). Even less are these NGOs funded from abroad, in which politically correct activists without a single day of work experience in the generally accepted sense make a living. Civil society (at least in my opinion) is those hundreds of thousands of people who have retained their ability to think critically, and who, overcoming their differences, have the strength for a necessary common action. These people are usually patient, but when their patience runs out, they take matters into their own hands. These are actually the people to whom we should be grateful that, although not particularly fast and sometimes painfully, Bulgaria is still moving forward.
And in order for it to continue moving forward, dear thinking people, it is important to keep the gunpowder dry.