Bulgaria Nationalists VMRO Reelect Leader after Scandal

VMRO reelected Krasimir Karakachanov (left) as leader after his only competitor, Plovdiv Mayor Slavcho Atanasov (right) left the Congress in protest together with almost half of all delegates. Pictured: the two men demonstrated friendly feelings the night

The Bulgarian nationalist party VMRO has reelected its incumbent Chair, Krasimir Karakachanov, during its Party Congress on Sunday.

However, Karakachanov was reelected only after a scandal as almost half of the over 700 delegates from around the country left the Congress claiming there had been many violations and manipulations including discrepancies between the list of delegates and the present delegates, and the presence of about 100 fake delegates.

The Mayor of the city of Plovdiv, Slavcho Atanasov, who was Karakachanov’s only competitor for the Chair position was also among the some 300 delegates who left the hall. Those who left were from 12 of Bulgaria’s total of 27 administrative districts, mostly in Southern Bulgaria, including Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Yambol, i.e. districts where the VMRO is traditionally stronger.

A total of 382 delegates remained in the hall, i.e. enough to secure a quorum, who voted and reelected Karakachanov as party Chair.

The Plovdiv Mayor Atanasov said there had been many violations and the decisions of the Congress would be appealed in court.

According to Boris Yachev, a former MP from VMRO, Sunday’s Congress is illegitimate, and an alternative one had to be held.

VMRO (VMRO-BND) is a descendant of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization from the beginning of the 20th century which fought for the liberation of the regions of Thrace and Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire. The ruling party in Bulgaria’s neighbor Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE also sees itself as a descendant of the same organization.

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