After journalist was shoved, opposition demands speaker Dotsova resign
GERB, DPS and PP call for the parliament speaker to resign, Vazrazhdane for President Yotova to step down. Journalists' group AEJ demands accountability from the NSO.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
The incident outside Progressive Bulgaria's headquarters triggered a wave of political demands three days before the presidential election. According to BNT and 24 Chasa, GERB-SDS, the DPS and PP leader Asen Vasilev called for the resignation of parliament speaker Mihaela Dotsova. GERB also demanded an independent review of the NSO officers involved. DPS leader Delyan Peevski urged Prime Minister Rumen Radev to remove Dotsova and President Iliana Yotova to dismiss the head of the NSO. Vasilev described what happened as “complete loss of self-restraint.”
Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov went further, demanding the resignation of Yotova, who is a candidate in Sunday's election. “This is absolutely unjustified and inhuman behaviour,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that Dotsova must explain her own conduct. Ivaylo Mirchev of Democratic Bulgaria said the NSO's job was not to shield those in power from questions. Yotova herself called on all sides to show restraint in the heated campaign.
The Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria (AEJ) called for a swift and transparent investigation. It said the officer and his colleagues left the scene without checking on the injured woman. The NSO Act obliges officers not to endanger citizens' life and health, and the video shows a breach of that provision, the AEJ said. Dotsova also bears political responsibility for not ordering her guards to stay, it added.