An unexpected move by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov gave new direction to political commentaries in Bulgaria. Instead of handing in his resignation demanded by protesting citizens for more than 40 days now, Bulgaria’s prime minister has come up with a proposal to change the republic's basic law - the Constitution. His proposals include a number of popular postulates on the political agenda, such as proposals made by various politicians over the years - reducing the number of deputies from 240 to 120, establishing a Judicial Council of Judges and of Prosecutors, and closing the Supreme Judicial Council. The draft constitution proposed by the ruling GERB party envisages a reduction of the term of office of the Prosecutor General from 7 to 5 years, the introduction of machine voting in all sections in the country with over 300 voters, as well as the possibility for voters to choose how to vote - with a machine or a paper ballot. The proposals for constitutional changes have already been submitted to the office of the National Assembly, and on the first day of the new parliamentary session - September 2, the draft must receive the necessary 121 votes in order to schedule a further discussion.

The ideas for changes in the Constitution provoked a stormy public reaction from the protesters who described them as a desperate attempt to gain time by the government, and a number of analysts pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of the announced draft changes.

“The move of the Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is strong, but risky”, says political scientist Rumyana Kolarova. In an interview for 24 Hours daily, she points out that the changes in the judicial system that the draft constitution proposed by Borissov contain show that the prime minister seeks a solution to a problem which has been talked about for years and is the basis of every act of popular dissatisfaction from the beginning of the transition period until today. According to her, with the proposals for constitutional changes the Prime Minister takes away the political initiative from the hands of President Rumen Radev, and by changing the electoral code and introducing a mixed system - 50% of the deputies to be elected proportionally, and the remaining 50 - by majority vote, the pathos of the rhetoric will be taken away from his non-parliamentary opponents Hristo Ivanov and Slavi Trifonov.

In the opinion of former National Assembly Speaker Mihail Mikov, who is from the opposition party BSP, it is "strange that the procedure for changing the Constitution begins at the end of term of a National Assembly, when each of the political forces is in expectation of the upcoming early or regular elections." He pointed out in an interview with the BNR that “the interests of the majority of Bulgarian citizens are related to social rights, healthcare, equality and justice”. “In my opinion, the goal is to replace the issue of the means of production and ownership of them, which is central to Bulgarians throughout the 30-year transition period, with a discussion about constitutional texts or a new project," Mikov said.

The former MEP from GERB and currently Judge Dushana Zdravkova commented to the Bulgarian National Radio that "the creation of a new constitution is a matter of settling social relations." "We need to see whether or not there are new social relations," she said, adding that she sees no problem in starting a new Basic Law, but that this should not happen the way we see it in the moment. She believes that "now is the time to change the vicious party model in Bulgaria. The parties and their functionaries do not realize that they are only a political instrument for carrying out the will of the sovereign. They perceive themselves as the distributers of portions and feeders, as one political leader put it. This should not be tolerated anymore," Zdravkova firmly believes. She described the proposals for amendments to the Constitution as bubble gum, “presented with contempt for the intelligence and education of Bulgarian citizens. There is a theft of ideas, what is now being proposed has already been articulated over the years. "

Compiled by Joan Kolev