Left-Wing Presidential Hopeful Votes, Bashes Interior Minsiter

Ivaylo Kalfin, the presidential bidder endorsed by the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, cast his vote in Sunday's election run-off.

"As I vote, I hope that Bulgaria will continue its way as a European country that has self-confidence and dignity, which means that the priorities of the parliament and the government should be changed," Kalfin declared upon voting, as cited by the BGNES news agency.

"I hope that people will determine the outcome of these elections, I do now want the Interior Minister to speak instead of them," Kalfin also stated. He referred to Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Interior Minister in the centrist-right GERB cabinet, who was controversially appointed as head of his party's election campaign headquarters some months ago.

The leftist presidential runner also expressed his hope for a significant voter turnout, which would neutralize what he perceived as vote buying and threatening on behalf of the ruling party.

Kalfin mentioned the vote buying practices in Bulgaria's largest Roma quarter of Stolipinovo, located in the southern city of Plovdiv, as well as Saturday's accident in which a party-affiliated election observer was beaten in the northwestern town of Lom, as two particularly disturbing violations on behalf of GERB.

In the first round with a voter turnout of 51.82%, which was marred by a chaotic organization of the electoral process, especially in Sofia, and by numerous vote buying reports, Kalfin received 28.96% of the votes. On Sunday, he faces GERB's candidate, front-runner Rosen Plevneliev, who won 40,11%.

In absolute terms, Plevneliev, the Regional Development Minister in PM Boyko Borisov's government in 2009-2011, and his running mate Margarita Popova got 1 349 380 votes, while Ivaylo Kalfin, a Member of the European Parliament and former Foreign Minister in 2005-2009, and his running mate, popular actor Stefan Danailov received 974 300.