Bulgarian President Secretly Backs Kuneva's Presidential Nomination-Rightist Leader

Rightist leader Martin Dimitrov has said that UDF does not see Meglena Kuneva as a major opponent in the presidential race. Photo by BGNES

Asked to comment on the newly announced presidential bid of ex EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, Martin Dimitrov, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), insisted that President Georgi Parvanov was secretly pulling the strings of the candidacy.

Meglena Kuneva, former EU Commissioner in charge of consumer protection, was previously a member of the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NSMP), a party formed by Bulgaria's ex Tsar and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg. At Monday's official presentation of her presidential nomination, she said that she would not seek the backing of any political parties and would run as an independent, non-partisan candidate, free of ties to monopolies or lobbyist circles.

"The same puppeteers that created the three-way coalition and elected Parvanov president before are now inventing the project called "Meglena Kuneva"", Dimitrov declared during Tuesday's press conference, stressing that some of the members of the initiative committee supporting Meglena Kuneva were connected to Parvanov's nomination for head of state.

Right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) claimed Monday that Kuneva was actually a candidate of the former three-way coalition. "If you look at who is surrounding her, you will understand. A President like Parvanov and his political formation can do only one thing – to give birth of the three-way coalition," said DSB leader Ivan Kostov.

The three-way coalition was headed by the rightists' archrival, the leftist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). According to Kostov, the coalition was the brainchild of current Georgi Parvanov, former BSP leader, who is now heading his own non-political formation, the Alternative for Bulgarian Renaissance (ABV).

According to the Martin Dimitrov, Kuneva's approval ratings have been artificially inflated. "We do not see people who would support her", he said, adding that she would make a serious opponent if she was backed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

Rumen Hristov, UDF's presidential hopeful, termed Kuneva "an as yet vague and unidentified candidate", predicting that the forthcoming elections would be a race between the big political formations.

At Tuesday's press conference, Dimitrov again presented UDF's nominations for president and mayor of Sofia, Rumen Hristov and Vladimir Kisyov, who will participate in preliminary elections staged by the Blue Coalition on June 12.

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