Countercurrent Affairs

On 8th May 2026, Ivan Demerdzhiev was elected Minister of the Interior in Bulgaria. He was selected fro the job by the new Prime Minister – Rumen Radev. 

On 23rd April 2026, the temporary Prime Minister of Bulgaria – Andrei Gyurov, leader of the care-taker government, tasked with organising the national elections in Bulgaria, spoke to Mariya Cuncarova (Bulgarian journalist and creator of the online platform Izvun Efir (Off the Air)). She questioned him regarding a list of names handed by the Ministry of the Interior to the Prosecutor’s Office. The list was including the name of people with suspected connections to election offences, investigated in the course of the campaign. Such offences include vote buying, organised voting, corporate voting, and the application of pressure or manipulation to influence someone’s decision who to vote for. The list was comprised of 72 names, some of which were of candidate MPs representing different political parties.

Izvun Efir had received a confirmed copy of this list. According to Cuncarova, Ivan Demerdhziev was on it. 

While Gyurov said, he doesn’t remember seeing Demerdhziev’s name on the list, he also claimed he didn’t look into the list in detail. He did, however, confirmed he has seen other names that Cuncarova quoted from the list Izvun Efir had received, such as Pavela Mitova (ITN – no longer in the Parliament), Dimitar Avramov (DPS) and Rositza Kirova (GERB). 

According to BTV and MediaPool, 30 of the 72 names on the list are those of people within political party structures. In Bulgaria, candidate MPs have immunity against prosecution during the campaign. Only the Attorney General can apply to the Central Electoral Commission to have them stripped off their immunity. 

The full list of names has not been made public.