Bulgaria's Ruling Party Nominates District Governor for Plovdiv Mayor

Bulgaria's ruling center-right party GERB has nominated Ivan Totev, the current District Governor of Plovdiv, as their candidate for mayor of the largest city in Southern Bulgaria.

Totev's nomination has been declared by Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borisov, who was on a visit to Plovdiv Wednesday night.

"We have high hopes for Totev because we want things in Plovdiv to develop," Borisov said.

Totev was nominated to run for Plovdiv Mayor in the local elections on October 23, 2011, almost without competition, beating two current mayors of city administrative districts in Sofia.

The incumbent Plovdiv Mayor Slavcho Atanasov from the nationalist party VMRO was elected in 2007 thanks to the endorsement of Borisov and GERB; however, subsequently, after GERB came to power in 2009, the party and Atanasov have grown increasingly apart, exchanging mutual accusations on issues such as the depositing of household waste from Sofia on Plovdiv's landfill.

In the meantime, Atanasov broke from the VMRO-BND party, spearheading the foundation of an alternative party, VMRO-NIE, and drew closer to Socialist President Georgi Parvanov.

Slavcho Atanasov has also become known for his eccentric decisions and statements such as the temporary hijacking of the Panagyurishte golden treasure, or raising alarm that Bulgaria will be attacked by suicide bombers over participation in NATO's naval operation near Libya.

Totev, who is the government-appointed Governor of the Plovdiv District, one of the 28 administrative districts in Bulgaria, has emerged as the GERB-backed counterweight of Atanasov. He got a boost to his credentials in May when UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Plovdiv and was welcomed by him, and not by Mayor Atanasov.

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