Half of Bulgaria's Regional Centers to Elect Mayors in Run-offs

Half of Bulgaria's regional centers will elect their mayors in run-offs on November 1 after the candidates failed to win majority at the first round of the local elections held on October 25.

In Plovdiv, Ivan Totev, the incumbent mayor and candidate of the largest ruling party GERB, will face Slavcho Atanasov, former mayor and candidate of the Patriotic Front (PF).

Dimitar Stoykov, the incumbent mayor of Pleven and candidate of GERB, will face Georg Spartanski, the candidate of a local coalition.

The run-off in Sliven pits against each other the incumbent Socialist mayor Kolyo Milev against the GERB candidate Stefan Radev.

Run-offs between candidates of Bulgaria's two largest parties are also to take place in Shumen, Pernik and Lovech.

Detelina Nikolova, the incumbent mayor of Dobrich and candidate of GERB, will face Yordan Yordanov, the candidate of the junior coalition partner – the Reformist Bloc (RB).

GERB candidates are also to contest the run-offs in all remaining regional centers, namely Haskovo, Pazardzhik, Vratsa, Vidin, Targovishte, Silistra and Razgrad.

In most cases they will face independent nominees or candidates of local coalitions, as is the case in Haskovo, Pazardzhik, Vratsa, Vidin, Silistra and Razgrad.

In Targovishte, Darin Dimitrov of GERB will face Emine Yakubova, the candidate of DPS.

The remaining regional centers of Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora, Yambol, Blagoevgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Kyustendil, Kardzhali, Montana and Smolyan elected their mayors in the first round.

In ten of the cities the incumbent GERB mayors were reelected, as is the case in Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora, Yambol, Blagoevgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo and Smolyan.

Hazan Azis, the incumbent mayor of Kardzhali and candidate of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), was reelected to a fourth term.

The incumbent mayors of Kyustendil and Montana, both supported by local coalitions, were also reelected.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!