Bulgarian Socialist Leader Votes to Avoid Enemy's 'Kiss of Death'

It is now most important that Bulgarians should avoid the ruling centrist-right GERB party's "kiss of death", left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Sergey Stanishev declared upon voting in the presidential election's run-off on Sunday.

Stanishev referred to Friday's statement on behalf of PM Boyko Borisov, who jokingly claimed that the Bulgarian Socialist Party "becomes stronger when it kisses the (ethnic Turkish) Movement for Rights and Freedoms."

The Prime Minister had referred to ethnic Turkish leader Ahmed Dogan's "promise" that his party would support the socialists in the presidential runoff on Sunday "in exchange for a nice kiss."

On Sunday, Stanishev also stated that Bulgarians should vote freely and not "succumb to the fear" which he believed the ruling party had imposed using the Interior Ministry and "murky businessmen". Stanishev, a former Prime Minister (2005-2009), mentioned vote buying as a particularly impudent practice.

The left-wing leader declared he voted for democracy instead of autocracy, pointing out that Sunday's election will determine whether all power in the country will be handed over to the ruling GERB party.

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, BSP's presidential runner Ivaylo 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.