Twice-Failed Socialist Mayor Candidate Steps Down from Governing Body of Sofia Unit

Georgi Kadiev, twice unsuccessful runner for Mayor of Sofia, has resigned from the governing body of the Sofia unit of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

The announcement was made at a press conference of the Executive Bureau of BSP.

Kadiev explained his decision with the fact that the left-wing formation had failed to nominate him for a leader of the group of socialist councilors at the Sofia Municipal Council.

At a session of BSP-Sofia on Monday evening, he was blamed for the loss at the end-October mayoral race and for not being a team player.

The October 23 first round of the mayoral elections ended in 53.31% for GERB's Yordanka Fandakova, who ran for a second term in office, while Kadiev received 22.27% of the votes.

A prominent point on the agenda of Monday's meeting of Sofia socialists, which lasted close to 3 hours, was the fact that Kadiev had attracted 183 votes less than the votes for BSP's municipal council list.

The socialists' failed runner for Sofia Mayor said that he was unaware why this had happened but suspected that BSP members had voted against him or had simply fallen for another candidate.

"This is Kadiev's personal decision and I find it right given the election results," said BSP secretary Anton Kutev, adding that Kadiev had attended Tuesday's session of the party's executive bureau, in which he also participates.