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The Bulgarian Parliament building in downtwon Sofia. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency
The Post Chronicle
Bulgarian officials say 142 people running for parliamentary elections were alleged agents of the secret police while the communist regime was in place.
Bulgaria's Files Commission checked 3,234 people competing as candidates in Sunday's general elections, the Bulgarian news agency SNA reported Tuesday.
The body, whose full title is the Commission for Declaring Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens with the State Security and the Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian People's Army, alleges 142 candidates were secret service collaborators until the overthrow of the communist regime in 1991.
SNA said the candidates' former roles have no legal impact on their current positions.
The report said Ahmed Dogan, incumbent leader of the ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedom, or DPS, was a known member of the communist counter-espionage service. Twenty-four other former agents are also DPS candidates, SNA said.
Incumbent Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov has denied allegations he was a former communist agent, the report said.
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The Central Election Commission (CEC) in Bulgaria accepted the registration documents of the two factions within the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) simultaneously
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Supporters of Ahmed Dogan, honorary chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), clashed with police outside his long-time residence in the Boyana area earlier today.
Brazen Bulgarian gangs "terrorise the elderly and rob them over their life savings with increasingly aggressive phone scams nettling millions of euros," according to an AFP story.
The prospect of US President Donald Trump's moving closer to Russia has scrambled the strategy of "balancing East and West" used for decades by countries like Bulgaria, the New York Times says.
Bulgarians have benefited a lot from their EU membership, with incomes rising and Brussels overseeing politicians, according to a New York Times piece.
German businesses prefer to trade with Bulgaria rather than invest into the country, an article on DW Bulgaria's website argues.
The truth about Bulgaria and Moldova's presidential elections is "more complicated" and should not be reduced to pro-Russian candidates winning, the Economist says.
President-elect Rumen Radev "struck a chord with voters by attacking the status quo and stressing issues like national security and migration," AFP agency writes after the presidential vote on Sunday.
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