Bulgarian Ex Tsar's Party Nominates Economist for Sofia Mayor

Vladimir Karolev, a publicly known economist, is the candidate for Sofia Mayor of the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NMSP), the political party of Bulgaria's ex Tsar and ex PM Simeon Saxe-Coburg.

Karolev was nominated at on Friday by the National Council of the NMSP to run in Bulgaria's local elections on October 23, 2011.

"Look forward to an interesting campaign with lots of humor and sincerity," Karolev is quoted as telling the NMSP party, also stressing the party should strive to win as many city councilor seats as possible.

Karolev was born in Varna in 1961. He is a graduate of the University of National and World Economy in Sofia. In 1993, he earned a MBA from the University of Alberta, Canada.

He is known as a consultant of a number of foreign companies working in Bulgaria, and has been an integral party of NMSP's economic team since the party swept Bulgarian politics in the 2001 parliamentary elections. Karolev has also served as a Sofia city councilor.

NMSP chair Hristina Hristova has defined a strong performance in the local elections as the "only and primary goal of the party at present."

"The political atmosphere in Bulgaria has been affected strongly by the use of police methods and the acceptance of police violence... The ruling party GERB is losing its political support... The EC monitoring report on justice and home affairs was presented by the government as a success but it is actually really worrying with its harsh criticism of the Bulgarian judiciary and Interior Ministry," Hristova stated.

The NMSP party is going to approve all of its mayor nominations for the October 23 elections by the end of August.