Georgi Tonev Kolev has been found

The mass approval and sympathy for the mysterious "snitch" launched a kind of crusade against the outrages of political life.

The Markovska case did not present anything new politically. Even the most uninformed Bulgarian is aware that our judicial system gives rise to doubts about its integrity, especially given the irrevocable Brussels Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which specifically concerns the judiciary and is in force only for Bulgaria and Romania out of all the member states of the European Union (EU).

Without underestimating the importance of the outcome of the case, the public reaction to it also provides food for thought. It was marked by the particularly emblematic name of Georgi Tonev Kolev – the author of the letter concerning the legality of Markovska's election and denounced as a denunciation by the affected candidate for constitutional judge.

A serious group of people identified with the image of this author and elevated him to a cult. Dozens of active citizens “rechristened” themselves on social networks, adopted the name as a pseudonym, protested and created a community under the slogan: “We are all Georgi Tonev Kolev”. The mass approval and sympathy for the mysterious “snitch” launched a kind of crusade against the outrages of political life.

Georgi Tonev Kolev, whether he exists or not, has lost all meaning. A minimal number of people are interested in who he is at all and what his motives are for undermining someone's "authority". Identification with him is not a consequence of solidarity or a search for another hero-messiah, but happens because it is a way for people to oppose demoralization and opacity. To a certain extent, these actions are a request for respect for the principle of denunciation, compromise and showing one's dirty shirt. Precisely because a general request for responsibility and morality is made, the very form of the act of the real Kolev loses meaning.

That is why Georgi Tonev Kolev is first and foremost the whistleblower, and lastly the informer. He is a new model of behavior, an ideology in itself, mobilizing in an unexpected way.

The "Kolev Model" was not limited to criticism of the judiciary, as the case managed to interfere, if not compromise, both the National Assembly (where the candidates are voted on) and the executive branch (Markovska herself called on the Ministry of Interior for help in searching for and holding Kolev accountable). Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration if we define the emergence of the Georgikolevites as the culmination of the emerging movement of young and educated people who found themselves in opposition to the entire political system, which did not meet their expectations.

The trend is not new, but steps like this are increasingly adding new touches to the image of the young person - apoliticality, indifference and apathy are evolving into hostility, intolerance and aggression. In other words, it is increasingly rare for it to be true that the Bulgarian citizen has given up on politics and has resigned himself to arbitrariness.

However, the overcome apoliticality is in no way associated with partisanship. The reaction of the majority of young people is not caused by sympathy for ideological values and associations in accordance with them. It can even be said that the closer the parliamentary elections approach, the more the requirements of this peculiar young electorate are cleared of bias and are linked to universal values, which should be basic for all parties in a democratic state. These are, for example, transparency, responsibility and accountability, correctness towards the voter and all other concepts of political morality. None of the above can be placed in a specific place on the left-right, conservative-liberal spectrum. This trend speaks badly about the political system itself, because it shows the unequivocal public opinion that it does not have its democratic value basis.

The attitude of the young educated voter can be summarized in just one word – “against”. The feeling of failure of political morality builds in him the identification with an anti-system personality, having no faith in any political or state institution. This is a response to the tendency for programlessness, inconsistency and ideological lack in parties and leaders, and not in the pragmatic and modern “technocratic” sense, but in the sense of susceptibility to various dependencies, interests and corruption. In such an environment, the creation of the image of the mythologized Georgi Tonev Kolev, who is not a party enthusiast, but a person who simply wishes not to be lied to, is rather a positive outcome.

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