Bulgaria Socialists Pick "Red Yuppie" to Run for Sofia Mayor

Bulgaria's Socialist Party has nominated former deputy finance minister Georgi Kadiev, known as the "red yuppie", to run for mayor of the capital Sofia in the upcoming local vote.

This was confirmed at a meeting of the party Sofia unit on September 14.

Kadiev was the only one of the 13 nominees who submitted the required documentation at the Sofia organization of the BSP before the deadline - September 5.

The 43-year-old financier was among the Socialists' favourites for Sofia mayor runner during the previous elections in 2007. After a secret ballot, however, the party city organization elected his rival, former intelligence chief Brigo Asparuhov, by a slim margin of two votes.

Georgi Kadiev served as Bulgaria's Deputy Finance Minister until June 2007 when he handed his resignation over disagreements with Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski. This was the second time in 2007 when Kadiev expressed his wish to withdraw from the post. He was in charge of the Customs Agency and the National Revenues Agency.

Kadiev has an international relations degree from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, a Master's in diplomacy from Lester University, UK, and a Master's in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

The Bulgarian capital Sofia has to hold partial local elections because the leader of the GERB party, Boyko Borisov, who has been the Mayor since 2005 (reelected in 2007), became Prime Minister of Bulgaria in July 2009.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party has traditionally failed to perform well in Sofia where the majority of residents vote rightist.

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