Demonstrators, some holding a banner declaring “WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE BOUGHT ELECTIONS,” gathered outside the presidency building in downtown Sofia on Tuesday and Wednesday evening to demand a new election. Others set fire to a fake ballot box emblazoned with Peevski’s name. The protesters pledged to gather again on Thursday.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Thursday called for an investigation into the allegations, which he described as “ugly practices.”
“Bulgarian citizens have the right to know in whose interest their institutions are working and whether someone is infiltrating the National Assembly through vote-buying, threats and racketeering,” Radev said.
“There can be neither bought nor forced democracy. If we accept this as normal, it means that we have given up the very idea of people’s rule,” he said.