The runoff campaign for president and vice president has not yet begun under the Electoral Code, the Government Information Service at the Council of Ministers said. It was replying to a complaint filed with the Central Election Commission (CEC) earlier today by the committee that nominated Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev.
In the complaint, the committee says Prime Minister Rumen Radev broke the Electoral Code by campaigning for Iliyana Yotova on the Council of Ministers' official information channels. Some journalists have made similar claims. The committee wants the CEC to rule urgently.
The service cites Article 342(3) of the Electoral Code, which says the CEC announces results as soon as it has them, and no later than 48 hours after election day is declared closed. If no candidate wins, the commission picks the two with the most valid votes and sets a new vote within the deadline in Article 93(4) of the Constitution.
The campaign for the new vote starts when the CEC names the two candidates and ends before election day.
The service says it is its duty, as it is the media's, to inform people on time and accurately about the positions and work of the prime minister and the cabinet. It said it will keep doing so. It expects honest media to do the same and not give in to attempts by some political circles to impose and legitimise censorship.
"Even if some journalists or media outlets do not share the prime minister's positions, professional standards in journalism require that those positions be reported accurately and in full," the government service wrote.
If some media depart from professional standards and "conceal, distort, manipulate, cut and weave the prime minister's words into political narratives, or are subject to censorship or self-censorship", the service will not follow their bad example, it said.