Former Bulgarian Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borisov (pictured with blue shirt) is certain he will be the country's next president. Photo by BGNES
Former Bulgarian Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borisov has revealed plans to run for president in the next election.
Speaking from the southern city of Plovdiv, where he was campaigning for the May 12 snap general elections, he said all teenagers sitting on the front row would vote for him in a few years to elect him president, stressing he had no rival at all for this post.
"For 15 years now, Bulgarians have elected me, be it for Chief Secretary of the Interior, for Mayor of Sofia, for Prime Minister, they gave me their trust and I have never betrayed it. Don't believe the non-sense they are feeding you. It will all pass and one day we will laugh when remembering it," said Borisov from the tribune, most likely hinting about the raging scandal with mass illegal use of special surveillance devices and wiretapping in the country.
The former PM explained he had toured small, predominantly Muslim communities in southern Bulgaria, all day long only to notice how much the formerly-ruling Cabinet of his Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, had done in the region, particularly to increase employment and improve infrastructure.
"We are not trying to stir confrontations and do not compete by discrediting people; it is sufficient to show what we have built – purification stations, highways, daycare centers. We will finish the infrastructure, increase income, which will attract more investors. Bulgarians survived the transition period and the austerity measures, however, we are better off than many other countries, and we will only get better from now on. Please, vote for whom ever you want, but the winner must not hide; he or she will have to assume responsibility. After the elections, I will first demand apologies before starting any coalition talks," Borisov declared.
He explained his Deputy and former Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, was not with him in Smolyan, because he was on an official visit to Berlin.
However, the leader of the GERB ballot in Smolyan, Daniela Daritkova, was right by his side.
Daritkova is the sister of Miroslav Naydenov's wife.
On Thursday, Naydenov accused Tsvetanov of spying on all members of the GERB Cabinet, including Borisov.