Bulgarian Conservatives Make U-turn from Opposition Stand

The leader of Bulgaria's opposition conservative Order, Law and Justice party (RZS), Yane Yanev, promised Tuesday support for the ruling, center-right GERB for the elections runoff.

The Conservatives had vowed support in the vote and in key Bills during a meeting with the leader of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB) and Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, after months of election campaigning on the promise and the slogan "I Will Fire Boyko Borisov."

RZS and their presidential and vice-presidential nominations – Atanas Semov and Polya Stancheva collected just 2% of the vote at the October 23 presidential elections.

Semov had also been present at the meeting.

During the meeting with Borisov at the Council of Ministers building, Yanev had stated he would endorse, at the presidential runoff, the former Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Rosen Plevneliev, and his running mate, Justice Minister on leave, Margarita Popova, nominated by GERB, against the candidates of the opposition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist party, BSP, Ivaylo Kalfin, who is a former Foreign Affairs Minister in the Socialist-led Three-Way Coalition cabinet and a current Member of the European Parliament, and his running mate, former Culture Minister from the BSP quota and movie star, Stefan Danailov.

The motive behind this U-turn remains unclear since until the very last moment before the elections the Conservative was holding press conferences, accusing Plevneliev of corruption.

"Bulgaria cannot afford another presidential term of BSP and the ethnic Turkish party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), thus servitude for the Russian mafia. We exchanged mutual accusations for the long-standing confrontation between GERB and RZS, but we also discussed crucial political decisions related to financial stability and Bulgaria's international image," Yanev told the media after the meeting.

He voiced outrage from manipulations and violations of the free and democratic vote on Election Day and from "repressions" against RZS followers and supporters, blaming personally Deputy PM, Interior Minister, and Head of GERB's Election Headquarters, Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

During the meeting Borisov had asked support for Constitutional amendments related to the so-called financial stability pact and the law for the confiscation of illegally acquired assets without an effective verdict and was promised one.

Yanev further made another surprising statement that both have been part of the RZS political platform for years and he even co-wrote the Confiscation Bill in his capacity of ex-Chair of the Parliamentary Anti-corruption Committee.

The Conservatives have insisted including in the new State Budget Act significant increases of funds for education and culture and reducing those for police and security and Borisov had promised to have Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, meet with Members of the Parliament from RZS to discuss their proposals and ideas.