Bulgaria’s elections are not for sale, PM insists as he vows crackdown on tampering

(Antoaneta Roussi – Politico) Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Andrey Gurov is promising tougher action against vote-buying and election manipulation as the country heads into its eighth parliamentary election in five years. The vote follows mass protests in December over accusations of entrenched government corruption and backsliding on the rule of law that toppled the center-right GERB-led coalition. Gurov, a deputy governor for the central bank and member of the anti-corruption party Continuing the Change, was appointed interim prime minister on Feb. 11. “What we want to do as a government is, for the first time, protect the elections rather than manage them,” he said in an interview with POLITICO, referring to his neutral position in the vote. “People can see that these elections are being protected.”. The government is bracing for election meddling ahead of its parliamentary vote on April 19. Left-leaning former President Rumen Radev’s newly formed party Progressive Bulgaria is leading in the polls against veteran center-right leader Boyko Borissov. – Bulgaria’s elections are not for sale, PM insists as he vows crackdown on tampering – POLITICO