Bulgarian ex-PM Wants Money Back in Rightist Family Scandal

DSB leader Ivan Kostov (L) and UDF leader Martin Dimitrov conversing in Parliament. Photo by BGNES

Rightist Democrats for Strong Bulgaria have lodged an appeal against the decision of Bulgaria's Central Election Committee not to refund the party's deposit for the October 23 presidential elections.

DSB leader and Bulgarian ex-PM Ivan Kostov has requested that the BGN 10,000 deposit be refunded and his party's registration for the elections to be cancelled, following a rift with the other player in the rightist Blue Coalition, the Union of Democratic Forces.

The Election Commission has answered that there is no such procedure. DSB's appeal to the decision will be referred to Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court.

Turmoil in the Blue Coalition was revived by the decision of the Union of Democratic Forces to draw the support of another minor rightist party, the United Democratic Forces, for the presidential elections.

Primary elections in the Blue Coalition determined UDF's Rumen Hristov to be the Coalition's candidate for President of Bulgaria, while DSB's Proshko Proshkov to be the nominee for Mayor of Sofia.

What irked Kostov's DSB is that the third rightist party, the United Democratic Forces, tabled their own candidate for Mayor of Sofia, erswhile Sofia Mayor Stefan Sofiyanski, in a move that DSB saw as undermining their Proshkov.

That has caused them to question the reliability of UDF as a coalition partner. Nevertheless as recently as last Friday Kostov stated that his party will support Hristov for president.

Some commentators have seen the latest developments as the beginning of the end of the Blue Coalition, which has 14 MPs (out of 240).

Recent opinion polls gave Rumen Hristov a showing of about 2% at the presidential elections. Proshkov and Sofiyanski can count on some 5% in the Sofya mayor vote each.

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