Bulgaria Capital Mayor Reelected - Exit Poll

Fandakova, who is widely seen as a protege of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, won 52.9% of the cast votes, according to the first exit poll results. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Yordanka Fandakova, the candidate of Bulgaria's ruling party GERB and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, has been reelected as mayor of the capital by a wide margin, exit poll results show.

Fandakova, who is widely seen as a protege of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, won 52.9% of the cast votes, according to the first exit poll results.

Georgi Kadiev, the candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, known as the "red yuppie", who has been seen as Fandakova's only serious competitor, remained second with 21.8% of the votes.

Proshko Proshkov, the right-wing Blue Coalition candidate for mayor of the capital Sofia, garnered 12.3% and came in third.

Nikolay Pehlivanov, a construction entrepreneur, running on the ticket of the nationalist Ataka party, garnered 3.2% of the votes.

Vladimir Karolev, candidate for Sofia mayor of the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NMSP), the political party of Bulgaria's former tsar and former prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, gained the support of 2.7% of the voters and finished fifth.

The Sofia mayor elections have been widely regarded as a race with a relatively clear outcome from the very beginning not so much due to the popularity and public support for Prime Minister Borisov and the GERB party, but to the lack of real challengers from the opposition.

Fandakova, a former high school teacher of Russian who was totally unknown before she was promoted in 2009 by her predecessor and current PM Boyko Borisov, has recently come under increased criticism on various issues, and by popular opinion has lost some momentum.

Despite that with her re-election on Sunday, Fandakova has made history as she was the first woman ever to be Mayor of Sofia, a fact described as an advantage by Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.

Fandakova was elected Sofia mayor in by-elections two years ago after former Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov became Prime Minister following the overwhelming success of his party GERB in the parliamentary elections in July 2009.

Borisov was himself first elected in by-elections in 2005, and then reelected at the regular elections in 2007.

Under his administration in 2005-2009, Fandakova served as a Deputy Mayor of Sofia in charge of education, youth, culture, and science. She had a brief stint as Minister of Education in Borisov's government.

MORE about Fandakova READ HERE

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