Socialist Candidate: Bulgaria's Left Is in Upsurge despite Loss

Ivaylo Kalfin, nominated to run for President by the Bulgarian left-wing, concedes he had lost the race. Photo by BGNES

The presidential candidate of Bulgaria's opposition, left-wing Socialist Party (BSP), Ivaylo Kalfin, who, according to exit polls, ended second in the election runoff, says he had won the trust of many people.

Kalfin spoke after the polls closed in Bulgaria at 7 pm Sunday and exit polls agencies declared the candidate of the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB), Rosen Plevneliev, a certain winner.

The Socialists' nomination made the statement in response to a reporter's question, who asked him if he had benefited from a "political kiss with another party," which Kalfin firmly denied and stressed he had gained nearly 1 million voters at 1st round and over 1 million at the runoff.

The reporter was referring to the now-notorious "Dogan Kiss" - in the evening of October 23, after polls closed in the first round of the elections, the leader of the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), Ahmed Dogan, promises his party's support to Kalfin, "only against one nice kiss."

"I am certain there is an upsurge in the left wing in Bulgaria. Everyone saw it. I am certain that we will win in the next elections. And I thank all who supported me," the BSP candidate, who is a former Foreign Affairs Minister in the previous, Socialist-led Three-Way Coalition cabinet, and current Member of the European Parliament, said.

He pointed out that these had been the most poorly organized elections in the last 20 years, with pressure being exerted on voters, businesses and local administration.

"These elections were a sorry example of how one should not conduct elections in a European country," Kalfin conclude.

Latest exit polls give Kalfin 46% against 54% for Plevneliev.

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