Bulgarian PM Roasts Former Allies over Primary Elections

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has bashed the rightist Blue Coalition over the vote buying that allegedly took part Sunday during its primary elections for presidential and Sofia Mayor candidates.

"I'm glad to see that many Roma people are endorsing the Blue Coalition...This is very good, because the Roma are getting integrated in a European party. As a good-natured person, I am glad that so many Roma citizens have recognized the Blue Coalition's European appeal," Borisov ironically commented Monday, referring to the suspiciously high Roma voting turnover in the right wingers' Sunday elections.

Citizens from the Bulgarian Roma minority are notorious for "selling" their votes during elections in exchange for money or goods. All key parties in the country have been accused of using their "services" in order to boost their vote counts.

Rumen Hristov, a former Minister and vice-Minister of Agriculture, as well as advisor to Bulgaria's Presidents Zhelyu Zhelev and Petar Stoyanov, won the coalition's preliminary presidential vote Sunday. He is endorsed by the Union of the Democratic Forces, one of the two parties within the coalition.

Proshko Proshkov, Mayor of the Bulgarian capital Sofia's Lozenets district, won the preliminary vote for the city's Mayor runner in the upcoming double elections in the fall. He is nominated by the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, the other Blue Coalition party.

The Blue Coalition is a member of the European People's Party and initially supported the ruling centrist right GERB which took over in the 2009 general elections in Bulgaria, but subsequently moved into opposition. The coalition is co-chaired by Martin Dimitrov from UDF and former PM Ivan Kostov (1997-2001) from DSB.

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