Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has made clear he will take part in the presidential elections, but not on November 06, but in 2021.

Borisov has made clear he will hold on to the PM's office and keep his commitment to coalition partners, amid continuing speculation whether he intends to run.

He has repeated his party GERB, which is the senior partner in the coalition government, will announce its presidential pair on October 02.

"We will release all our placards, videos and leaflets on this day," he has asserted in an interview with bTV station, enumerating possible female nominees and adding all of them were "fit" to be presidential candidates.

"[Sofia Mayor] Yordanka Fandakova, [EU Commission Vice President] Kristalina Georgieva, [Interior Minister] Rumyana Bachvarova, [Parliament Speaker] Tsetska Tsacheva - she in particular... [All are] intelligent, praiseworthy and have proved their skills."

GERB said earlier this week it would not announce its presidential candidate until a week before the election campaign begins.

Former Air Force Commander Rumen Radev, the candidate endorsed by the socialist opposition, later challenged Borisov, pledging to defeat even him if he was his party's nomination.

Borisov, however, downplayed Radev's words, saying he "cannot be" a politician while being really skilled when it came to the Air Force's future.

Radev asked to be discharged at the beginning of August, after socialist politicians mentioned his name as a possible contender.

On Thursday, Borisov also dismissed suggestions the decision of GERB to protract the announcement of its presidential pair was a show of disrespect for voters.

Earlier, his deputy in the party, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, had cited the need to allow institutions and the executive to keep working normally as long as possible before the vote, instead of mobilizing them for an election campaign.

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