Right-Wing Leader Urges Support for GERB's Presidential Bidder at Runoff

Rightist leader Ivan Kostov has spoken in favor of GERB's Rosen Plevneliev as opposed to BSP's Ivaylo Kalfin as rivals in the presidential race. Photo by BGNES

Ivan Kostov, leader of the right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) has called on supporters of the party to back the presidential candidate of ruling center-right party GERB at the runoff.

"DSB backs Plevneliev, because his rival is Kalfin, someone we would not like to see become head of state, especially with the support of Ahmed Dogan," the rightist leader said at a Monday press conference.

Kostov, however, took care to emphasize that DSB was far from seeking dialogue with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov or siding with GERB's methods of governance.

He explained that DSB was facing the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and GERB at the second round of the local elections.

The right-wing leader urged Plevneliev to adopt stances identical to those of independent candidate Meglena Kuneva on the topics of national security and the threats to national security ensuing from the implementation of outgoing President Parvanov's grand slam of energy projects.

He also encouraged GERB's runner to use his power as a representative of the ruling party to stop the "monstrosities" happening during the vote count or to at least to differentiate himself from the events.

Meglena Kuneva, which ranked third after Plevneliev and Kalfin in the presidential race, said at a press conference late on Sunday that she would not advise her supporters on how to vote at the runoff.

The DSB leader attributed the poor election results scored by the Blue Coalition to the unsuccessful formula for participation.

He said that the Blue Coalition's candidate for Sofia Mayor, Proshko Proshkov, had only managed to get 50% of the potential votes due to the inefficient national campaign of the right-wing forces.

"Rumen Hristov was not backed by the Blue Coalition. He was the candidate of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). In 80% of the municipalities where the Blue Coalition exists, the votes it got were twice more than those in favor of Rumen Hristov," Kostov commented.

Primary elections in the Blue Coalition determined UDF's Rumen Hristov to be the Coalition's candidate for head of state, while DSB's Proshko Proshkov was chosen as its Sofia Mayor bidder.

Kostov was annoyed 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 caused DSB to question the reliability of UDF as a coalition partner, but it nevertheless voiced support for Hristov's presidential bid.

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