Arman Babikyan: The protest will pour into the ballot boxes

Arman Babikyan is a renowned PR and marketing expert. He's also part of the "Toxic trio" and one of the leading candidates for the coalition "Rise up! Thugs out!"

BGNES: There were unprecedented protests in Bulgaria, but we see that opinion polls give a serious advantage to GERB?

Аrman Babikyan: When elections draw near I don't watch the sociological surveys as they mostly turn into advertising messages. The protests with all their power have achieved a lot and this is due to the thousands of Bulgarian citizens who were on the streets in the country and all around the world. They have all opened the eyes of the EU in respect to the situation in Bulgaria. It has to do with the growing corruption, lack of freedom of speech, the poor judiciary system, and the trampled democracy. Another big achievement of the protests is that the ongoing feat which we were used to has stopped. As a result of the protests GERB's electoral power has dropped by at least 30% - from 1,250,000, they are currently somewhere around 780,000. People realized that they have a dictator above them and that's what united them. It's important that people go out and use their democratic right to vote so that the dictator is ruling no more.

BGNES: We are currently in a crisis, which is very aggravated by the pandemic. In this situation, they say that Bulgaria needs stable governance. What is a stable government for you?

Arman Babikyan: Look, stability is a reassurance to the cowards. What we need is a destabilization of the mobsters, the destabilization of the oligarchic circles, the centers of power that pull the strings behind the scenes - they must be destabilized.

BGNES: What do you want to change after April 4th?

Arman Babikyan: I'm trying to be realistic. The least and most necessary thing that should happen on April 4th is for this person to fall from power and not be prime minister. My dreams go far beyond this, but I'm a realist and I know that the only thing that we can do on April 4th is to deal with Borisov. There will be another battle, there will be another step, we will have to deal with justice and reform in this sector. And yes, in order to cope, we will have to have unpleasant conversations with people we don't like and with parties, we don't like. Someone has to take the risk that by telling the truth he could be liked less than before. The opposite means all the time that some politicians satisfy their fan clubs from dusk until dawn. Constitutional changes require at least 160 votes and I don't see such a party or a coalition that will achieve this number.

BGNES: Is there a danger that the elections will give birth to monsters?

Arman Babikyan: Monsters are born out of the patience of the citizens. Who foresaw the monster that Borisov became? In the past, people were used to admiring everything he did. Not anymore. /BGNES