Caretaker PM: "Measures Have Been Taken against Interference of Turkey in Bulgarian Elections"

Sofia, March 17 (BTA) - Caretaker Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdjikov said on Friday that measures have been taken against "Turkey's interfering in the election process in Bulgaria". "There are certain attempts which we do not like but they are being cleared," Gerdjikov said at the sidelines of a ceremony for the tenth anniversary of the creation of administrative courts in Bulgaria.

Gerdjikov said that during the years since the shift to democracy in this country attempts for interference have always existed in one way or another and the current case is no exception. The PM said that Turkish Ambassador to Sofia Suleyman Gokce had been called to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry for talks. He also said that no cause exists for reconsidering the election law provision in respect of the number of polling stations for Bulgarians living abroad. The comment is prompted by political calls to reduce the number of polling stations in Turkey for the March 26 early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria.

Commenting the anniversary of the creation of the administrative courts, Gerdjikov said if in other areas of the law Bulgaria draws criticism from the European Commission, administrative justice administration is not among them. Still, the Code of Administrative Procedure could be improved, he said.

In an address to administrative judges President Rumen Radev notes that the creation of the administrative courts is one of the biggest reforms in this country. Radev stresses their key role for the democratic state, adding that the next challenge in administrative justice is electronic justice.