GERB Candidate Conspicuously Absent from Mayoral Debate

A mayoral debate was held Monday in Sofia's City Garden, with all candidates in attendance except for Yordanka Fandakova, incumbent Sofia mayor and GERB nominee for the post .

The discussion was organized by and broadcast live on the Bulgarian National Television (BNT).

Fandakova was said to have decided last minute against showing up at the event.

The absence of the mayoral hopeful of ruling center-right party GERB made the candidate of the right-wing DSB party Proshko Proshkov leave the scene.

"I believe that this stance shows disrespect towards the citizens of the capital", he snapped, adding that Fandakova had to attend such meetings in order to account for her progress.

Angel Dzhambazki, Georgi Kadiev and Vladimir Karolev, Sofia mayor candidates of the nationalist party VMRO-BND, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the former Tsar Simeon Saxe-Coburg's National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NDSV), respectively, exchanged accusations of past actions and inactions during their terms in office as municipal councilors.

The verbal clash drew in Stefan Sofiyanski, three times mayor of the Bulgarian capital (1995-2005), whose bid was backed by a brand-new rightist formation uniting a number of marginal diverse political subjects, the so-called "Community of Democratic Forces" (CDF).

The main point on the agenda of Monday's discussion was Roma ghettos in Sofia.

All candidates recognized the existence of a problem, offering a variety of solutions ranging from Dzhambazki's call for the immediate demolition of the Roma shantytowns to Sofiyanski's suggestion to build new housing with EU money and with the participation of the Roma inhabitants-to-be.

Kadiev drew attention to another problem with Roma population in Sofia, unpaid utility bills.

To illustrate his point, he said that the Filipovtsi ghetto housed a total of 5000-10 000 Roma people from which water utility Sofiyska Voda managed to collect a total of BGN 10 per month, BGN 5 from the local school and another BGN 5 from the hospital.

The left-wing candidate further reminded that Sofiyska Voda had suggested to buy and install water meters in the quarter but nothing had so far been done about the matter.

The debate also included issues like Sofia's garbage problem, the lack of parking spaces, insufficient street lighting, unsafe underpasses and the condition of utilities Sofiyska Voda and Toplofikatsiya Sofia and companies providing cleaning services in the capital.

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