Ex Sofia Mayor Sofiyanski to Run Again, Launches Campaign

Stefan Sofiyanski shot to stardom in 1995-2005, when he was Mayor of Sofia and was best known, partly because of his big smile, as one of the emblematic faces of the right-wing Union of Democratic Forces. Photo by BGNES

Stefan Sofiyanski, the highly popular-turned-controversial former Sofia mayor, launched his pre-election campaign for a new term as head of the municipality office on Sunday.

Sofiyanski was Sofia Mayor in 1995-2005, after being elected three times – in 1995, 1999, and 2003; in 2005, he backed out of the job to become a Member of Parliament. In 2006, he became a Bulgarian observer in the European Parliament, and then, briefly, a MEP in January-May 2007.

In 1997, Sofiyanski temporarily stepped down as Sofia Mayor to head a caretaker Cabinet amidst the financial and political crisis that grabbed the country. Until 2003, when he founded his own party, the Union of Free Democrats (UFD), Sofiyanski was an emblematic figure in the Union of Democratic Forces, the major anti-communist and pro-Western Bulgarian party of the 1990s.

Sofiyanski resignation from the mayor seat of Sofia in 2005 paved the way for Boyko Borisov, Bulgaria's current Prime Minister, to rise to prominence by winning the by-elections in 2005.

Sofiyanski's political image has been marred by corruption allegations. In 2004-2008, he faced three corruption trials but was acquitted in all three of them because he was found not to be responsible, and for lack of evidence.

Sofiyanski's bid for the 2011 local elections was formally announced at the beginning of June by a brand-new rightist formation uniting a number of marginal diverse political subjects.

The new "Community of Democratic Forces" (CDF) includes the Union of Free Democrats, the Democratic Party, the Gergyovden (St. George's Day) Movement led by Sofia city councilor and popular author Lyuben Dilov Jr., the "Radicals" Union, the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, the Agricultural Movement Association, the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union "Nikola Petkov", plus several even more marginal formations.

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