Bulgaria Black PR Socialist Mastermind Dismissed from Post

The boykostov.org site featured the transformation of Borisov's face into Kostov's image, reinforced by the admonition - "if you support Boyko, you will get Kostov." File Photo

Azer Melikov, Head IT Advisor of outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev, has been removed as Chair of the Managing Board of the "Information Services" company.

The decision has been made late Thursday evening during a meeting of the company's Monitoring Council.

The company was selected by Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and did count the ballots during the July 5 general elections. It is under the management of the Finance Ministry, which owes 99,5% of its shares.

Azer Melikov, who was a member of the political Cabinet of the former PM and leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Sergey Stanishev, became notorious for his involvement in the boykosotv.org site, featuring an active election anti-campaign against the leaders of the then two main rightist opposition parties, Boyko Borisov, and Ivan Kostov.

The site, created trough the strict adherence to all "black PR" rules, warned voters that if they "support the informal leader of the young, right-wing Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, Borisov, (which later won the elections), they would end up with the leader of Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), and former Prime Minister, Ivan Kostov."

The site featured the quite ingenious transformation of Borisov's face into Kostov's image, reinforced by the admonition - "if you support Boyko, you will get Kostov." Another negative slogan ended the clip: "If they win, Bulgaria loses."

A checkup of the domain, conducted by the news TV channel RE:TV, revealed the site has been first registered on April 23, under the name of Azer Melikov.

Melikov and BSP initially denied any involvement, but as the election battle became more and more heated, they eventually admitted the site was part of the Coalition for Bulgaria (where BSP was the main partner) election campaign.

As soon as it was revealed that Melikov has registered the site, GERB requested his dismissal from the "Information Services" company, but Stanishev and outgoing Finance Minister, Plamen Oresharski, refused.

Before the elections the right-wing stated on numerous occasions that Melikov's presence in the company was a severe conflict of interests, and a clear sign the vote would be manipulated.

 

 

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