OPPOSITION TO ELECT LEADER DURING SECOND DAY OF NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Views on BG | March 9, 2002, Saturday // 00:00

The thirteenth two-day national conference of the rightist Union of Democratic Forces opened on January 9th. Over 4000 delegates participate. Special guests to the forum are the coalition partners of the union from the People’s Union. The conference is very important for the political organization: new statute, new leader as well as members of the National Council will be elected. The political principles of the union will also be discussed and approved. The Union of the Democratic Forces was ruling party till the general elections in 2002 when it was seriously defeated by the Simeon II National Movement. The United Democratic Forces have 51 seats in Parliament - second after the ruling majority Simeon II National Movement parliamentary group.

Ekaterina Mihaylova, current UDF leader and UDF floor leader Nadezhda Mihaylova run for the leadership position of the party. Both of them addressed the delegates. The candidature of former prime minister Ivan Kostov for the leadership position was also proposed at the conference. In his speech to the delegates, former Prime Minister Kostov said that the fact that Ekaterina Mihaylova agreed to become leader of the party after the general elections in June should be appreciated. UDF members commented that this statement of Kostov was an indirect way to express support for the current UDF leader. Kostov stressed that he would never accept to become leader of the Union of Democratic Forces again.“I will never allow to myself to run for the leadership position again. Eight months ago I handed in my resignation because I decided to undertake my responsibility for the mistakes,” Kostov said.

“The goal of the Union of the Democratic Forces is clear – to be able again to win the elections as soon as possible,” Ekaterina Mihaylova, UDF leader said in her address to the delegates at the thirteenth two-day national conference of the rightist Union of Democratic Forces . She talked about the defeat of the party at the general elections, which was even more painful because of the fact that “UDF conducted good politics in the name of Bulgaria.” “These four years were and remain good years for Bulgaria,” she pointed out. “It is not right to claim that UDF lost the elections only because of the difficult reforms. On the opposite, we lost the elections due to the image that the rulers acquires during their mandate,” Mihaylova added. According to her, the UDF government did not satisfy the expectations of the people for new style, direct and sincere dialogue. Ekaterina Mihaylova also said former prime minister and party leader Ivan Kostov chose to keep three influential party officials suspected of corruption in power to keep the party intact. She acknowledged that "the fear from disrupting the government was decisive" for Kostov's decision to tolerate Evgeni Bakardzhiev, Hristo Biserov and Yordan Tsonev in the party's ruling body despite suspicions of corruption. The three, who have never been investigated, say they are innocent. “The temptations of power are big and not all manage to resist them,” the leader said. “We need clear rules for control and balance in the organization. We also need political courage. I know and I believe that this is the sole recipe for our treatment, “ Ekaterina Mihaylova said.

The UDF floor leader Nadezhda Mihaylova emphasized that the main problem that UDF faced was that it didn’t address the human side of the reform. She said that the union should be reformed internally. “UDF cannot bring back the confidence of the people if it doesn’t reinstate trust in itself, “ she said. “UDF should be part of the people’s world, this is a challenge and chance for Bulgaria and the party, “Nadezhda Mihaylova stressed.

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