Liberal Mayor Runner: Mismanagement Left Sofia with No WCs

Vladimir Karolev holding photographs of his main rivals for the Sofia Mayor seat in a press conference Sunday. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian capital Sofia has been suffering from decades of poor management that has affected even things such as public toilets, said liberal Sofia Mayor hopeful Vladimir Karolev.

Sunday Karolev, who is running for the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity for October 23 elections, made an entertaining presentation of his campaign at an event that was intended to be a debate together with his main rivals.

However, all three of his invitees - incumbent ruling GERB party's Yordanka Fandakova, Bulgarian Socialist Party's Georgi Kadiev, rightist Blue Coalition's Proshko Proshkov, and nationalist Ataka's Nikolay Pehlivanov - failed to turn up.

At the press conference Karolev pointed out 16 key issues in the management of the Bulgarian capital, such as illegal construction and development of the city's territory, poorly organized and equipped public transportation, stray dogs and WCs.

Among the slogans for the campaign of the economist, who has gained something of a public fame for his wit and humor are: "Hold on till October 23, then Karolev will Open the Loo," and "Sofiyanski Privatized the City Toilets - Fandakova Doesn't Care about Your Bodily Needs Either."

(He was also referring to Stefan Sofiyanski, the rightist politician who was Sofia Mayor for two terms, 1995-2005.)

Sunday Karolev also spoke about the problems of the Sofia neighborhood known as the Student City, where dorms and other buildings of universities in Bulgaria's capital are concentrated, and of which he is a resident.

He pointed out not only to the chronic problem of non-regulated construction, but also to what he saw as the pervasive campaigneering on the part of ruling GERB party there for upcoming presidential and municipal elections next Sunday.

The Bulgarian law on higher education forbids the use of colleges and universities for political purposes, but technically a lot of the properties in the Student City are not owned by or parts of such institutions.

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