Bulgaria's Controversial Octopus to Shake Politics, Run for President

Aleksei Petrov, aka the Octopus, who is currently investigated and under house arrest, in front of his home. Photo by BGNES.

Bulgarian controversial businessman, ex-secret agent and alleged crime boss Aleksei Petrov said he might run for President in 2011, in a move that might blow up domestic politics.

Since his release under house arrest in early October, Petrov aka the Octopus, who is sued for various criminal activities, has lamentably emerged at the center of the Bulgarian political scene with various figures exchanging accusations that they are bound to him.

"The presidential contest is worth it, especially if [current Bulgarian PM] Boyko Borisov joins it," said Petrov Sunday, as reported by Dariknews.bg.

PM Borisov has this far denied speculations that he will run for President next fall.

Constitutionally speaking, that would mean relinquishing executive power as a premier for a position that in Bulgaria is of a largely "symbolic" nature.

That is, unless the Bulgarian Constitution is changed in the direction of a presidential republic to merge important powers of the President and PM.

What renders matters even more curious, Aleksei Petrov on his part has spoken in favor of the proposals for constitutional reform launched by controversial RZS party.

RZS has been suspiciously close to Petrov and launched a acrimonious campaign against Borisov's own deputy-PM, interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, after confering with Petrov.

Among the constitutional innovations heralded by RZS is precisely the creation of a presidential republic, but this has been something that Aleksei Petrov has so far not expressly supported, stating his preference for a parliamentary republic.

Regardless of whether Petrov will actually run for President, it is a fact that he is starting to occupy an uncomfortably central place in media discourse on Bulgarian politics. It is also a fact that he has voiced firm intentions to fight for a formal position in domestic political life.

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