Bulgaria Ruling Party Pens in Presidential, Local Vote Oct 23

Politics » DOMESTIC | April 10, 2011, Sunday // 16:21
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Ruling Party Pens in Presidential, Local Vote Oct 23 Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (L) is pictured here with Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov (R), who is also head of the elections headquarters of the ruling GERB party. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's presidential elections, which will be held together with the local vote, should be scheduled for October 23, the ruling center-right GERB party and their nationalist allies have demanded.

"Under local legislation the two votes must be held in the period from October 22 to November 22 but we believe that the sooner we organize the elections, the better," Iskra Fidosova, co-chair of the parliamentary group of the ruling GERB party and head of the legal commission in parliament, told the Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday.

"GERB will announce the name of our candidate in July, but not earlier," Fidosova said.

The date of the presidential elections should be agreed upon at parliament, while the president is to pen in the date for the local vote. This year however the two votes will be held on one and the same date.

Time is already ticking away for Bulgaria's presidential and local pre-election campaign, but a brand new poll showed nearly two thirds of all Bulgarians (63%) prefer to have a new President who is not from the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party.

The survey came to contradict the words of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who recently expressed conviction that his party has among its ranks at least five likely nominees able to sweep the elections for the high, though largely ceremonial, office of president. He has even hinted to journalists that he might run for president.

Meanwhile internet forums in Bulgaria are overflowing with calls for the highly popular Kristalina Georgieva, currently the EU's humanitarian aid commissioner, to run in this year's presidential elections.

The ruling party GERB is unlikely to nominate Interior Minister Tsvetanov, as initially planned, because of the string of discrediting information revealed about him recently, but it is still unclear whether Kristalina Georgieva will agree to run or Boyko Borisov's real political goal will prove to be the presidential office.

The most disputed aspect of the vote is the prospect of former special agent of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and controversial businessman, Aleksei Petrov, running in it.

Bulgaria nationalist leader Volen Siderov has also said he is determined to run - again - for the office. Siderov has been promoting openly his racist beliefs, which disgusted many Bulgarians but fascinated others.

The popularity of the national leader however has weakened tremendously over the last year and analysts say there is no risk of Siderov's making a breakthrough and inciting ethnic tension, something that has brought dramas in the Balkan region.

Despite the mostly ceremonial duties of the post, the president can name figures to bodies like the secret service, the media watchdog and others to extend his influence.

Incumbent Socialist President Georgi Parvanov was re-elected for a second five-year term in 2006 and isn't eligible to run in next year's presidential elections.

The candidates in 2011 elections will probably inspire more than one out of six million voters, the turnout during the previous vote in 2006, but the winner, will hardly be able to call himself president of all Bulgarians.

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Tags: Blue Coalition, Ataka, Tsvetan, Tsvetanov, GERB, elections, Tsvetomir Paunov, local elections, Interior Minister, president, Volen, Siderov, Georgi, Parvanov, Boyko, Borisov, Aleksei Petrov, Kristalina Georgieva, Bulgaria, Bulgarians, Iskra, Fidosova

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