Turks Back Ruling Party Runner in Bulgaria's Gabrovo Elections

Nikolay Sirakov has worked for long years as state servant and has been a part of the team of former mayor Tomislav Donchev. Photo by Darik.net

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Bulgaria's predominantly ethnic Turkish party, has vowed support for the candidate of the ruling GERB party in the early local elections for a new mayor in the town of Gabrovo.

“The decision was taken on Wednesday at a meeting of the party,” the head of its unit in the town of Gabrovo Yusein Yuseinov announced.

“Our arguments in support of this candidature is that Nikolay Sirakov has worked for long years as state servant and has been a part of the team of former mayor Tomislav Donchev," Yuseinov explained.

The statement comes as a surprise because the ethnic Turkish party has been repeatedly slammed as one of the arch enemies of the ruling GERB party, its leader and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

The citizens of the central town of Gabrovo will choose between seven runners in the early local elections for a new mayor on June 19.

The listed parties are center-right GERB, nationalist Ataka, leftist Bulgarian Socialist Party, the centrist party of former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg NDSV, conservative Order, Law and Justice (RZS), the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party and the Blue Coalition Plus, which brings together nine right-wing political formations.

Gabrovo will hold local elections after mayor Tomislav Donchev became the new minister in Bulgaria's conservative government appointed to speed up the ability to use European Union funds.

Bulgarians have pinned lots of hopes on the minister, who is expected to control the proper use of European Union subsidies, prevent fraud and clean up its record with the EU.

The European Commission froze in 2008 a total of EUR 825 M in pre-accession aid to Bulgaria and subsequently axed EUR 220 M over corruption concerns.

Bulgaria's new center-right government, which swept the elections in July, has made attempts to shake off the country's reputation for rampant graft and crime.

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