The candidates of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, have won three of the four runoffs in the partial local mayoral elections held in Bulgaria Sunday.

The opposition left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, won the fourth.

Ventsislav Shishmanov from GERB is the new Mayor of the village of Tuhovitsa, in the Satovcha municipality. He won against the candidate of the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, Kemal Arifov.

The village was without a mayor for months after the Court annulled the results from the October 2011 election.

Iliyan Bodurov from GERB is the new Mayor of the village of Pirgovo, while fellow party member, Milcho Dongov is Mayor of the village of Ivaylo.

Both faced rivals from Agrarian parties.

Milen Georgiev from BSP is the Mayor of the village of Dobroplodno where he prevailed over the DPS candidate, Gyulten Alieva.

GERB suffered losses at first round, when BSP and DPS won 3 and 2 seats, respectively, while GERB got one.

The largest first round vote took place in the central town of Kalofer where incumbent mayor, Rumen Stoyanov, nominated by an initiative committee and supported by BSP, got 88.27% of the vote (1 475 total), Yordan Kolev, from the nearly-extinct party of former Tsar and Prime Minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, National Movement for Stability and Prosperity, NMSP, was second with 9.3% (155 votes), while Lalka Dragoeva from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, was third with just 2.5% (41 votes).