A pollster head has suggested Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev is hoping for the replacement of UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova with EU Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva as a contender to take over the UN's top job next year.

In an interview with Inews.bg, Andrey Raychev, who co-owns Gallup International - Bulgaria, has alleged that under Plevneliev's plans, "complex" and "harmful" to Bulgaria, Bokova will be dropped as the Bulgarian candidacy, with the government endorsing Georgieva instead.

Bokova is known to be Bulgaria's official candidacy, even though this has to be confirmed when the UN race is formally launched next year.

A number of reports have hinted Georgieva is making no secret of plans to run.

"That they [could] remove Bokova I am sure, but that Georgieva [would] win - this is absurd!"

In the words of Raychev, Plevneliev is pinning hopes that, once the EU Commission's Vice President seat remains vacant (in case Georgieva is elected to the UN), Prime Minister Borisov would send him as her successor.

This comes amid uncertainty over plans of the incumbent head of state, Rosen Plevneliev, who is not willing to discuss his intentions for the moment.

Asked to comment if the ongoing developments and tensions between coalition partners could shake the government, he says: "[Bulgaria's] government will become more stable, but will change its nature. It will become purely centrist, and will stop being center-right."

Explaining his position on widespread allegations, thrown by the RB and other parties, that it is the opposition party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) that keeps the cabinet afloat, he dismisses it as too strong-worded, but adds the DPS is "quite clearly aiding the government".

In his words, the current cabinet is a product of the DPS's decision to push the previous administration to step down, in an environment when the socialist BSP was poised to lose the October 2014 election. Raychev believes the DPS availed itself of the situation to opt for new, "right-wing" alliances to fend off accusations of being an anti-Western and anti-NATO party.

He also opines that, under the worst-case scenario where the fiscal situation in Bulgaria deteriorates steadily in 2016, Borisov would prefer to run for President in the autumn to shun responsibility.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!