Bulgaria's ruling center-right party GERB will not lead a smear campaign, the party spokesperson Sevdalina Arnaudova said Sunday at the presentation of the entire election headquarters staff for the presidential and local elections in October 2011.

"We have never supported smear campaigns and we will not lead such a campaign now," Arnaudova said.

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who was appointed head of the campaign headquarters of GERB, confirmed that the party will not play a "dirty game" and respond to the critiques against them.

"I can assure you that we will not respond in the same way," he said.

Tsvetanov noted that the party has decided to form an election headquarters early, so that it can make the necessary arrangements in the different places.

Responsible for legal issues in the elections headquarters will be Iskra Fidosova, Dimitar Lazarov and Tsveta Karayancheva; for organizational and technical questions – Plamen Nunev, Veselin Zlatev, Evgeniya Aleksieva.

The staff responsible for coordination with GERB's national structures will include Aleksandar Nenkov and Boyan Milushev, while Elen Gerdzhikov and Valya Chilova will take care of the political marketing, analyses and forecasts.

Tsvetanov said that GERB will participate independently in the elections. However, he did not rule out completely potential partnership with all political groups after the elections.

"Our policies should be led only by the interests of the citizens. GERB will participate only with pragmatic future solutions. We will keep the continuity of the policies in the local government, so that we continue the good things that will be implemented by the relevant local authorities," the interior minister said.

GERB's administrative secretary Tsvetomir Paunov, who was selected as Tsvetanov's deputy, said there were specific requirements, which candidate mayors will have to meet.

Among other requirements, the candidates will have to present documents that they have not been involved in the former Communist State Security, declarations for proving the origin of their properties, and declarations for political loyalty.

According to Paunov, the second type of criteria will include demands for candidates to know and follow the basic political values of GERB, to have a prominent position on the development of the municipality, to be team-workers.

Even though the appointment of Tsvetanov as head of the campaign headquarters was taken to mean that he will not be GERB's candidate for president, the interior minister said that his participation in the campaign does not limit his opportunity for launching a presidential bid.

"GERB has many possible candidatures. You saw what happened with the statements of PM Boyko Borisov, who said that I might be a candidate," Tsvetanov said.

He pointed out, however, that the candidate has to be the best and has to justify the trust of all the people who showed support.

"I can assure you that the future president of the country will be the GERB's candidate," Tsvetanov said, adding that the candidate will be announced in May or June.

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