Sofia Mayor-reelect, Council Take Oath of Office

During the oath of office, the Mayor-reelect of Bulgaria's capital Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, vowed to work for the future of the city. Photo by BGNES

The Mayor-reelect of Bulgaria's capital Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, and the new Sofia municipal councilors took Tuesday the oath of office.

Under the tradition, the official ceremony and the first meeting were chaired by the oldest councilor – Liliyanda Elenkova from the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB). Fandakova also won on the GERB ballot.

All political groups with representation in the City Hall are proposing Tuesday candidates for chair and deputy chairs of the municipal council for its 2011-2015 term. The previous chair – Andrey Ivanov from GERB made the list of councilors once again in the local elections on October 23 and the runoff on October 30.

After the announcement of the official results, it became clear that GERB are having majority once again with 33 municipal councilors form a total of 61. The new group includes three previous Sofia district mayors and one deputy district mayor.

The municipal councilor from the oppostition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and candidate for mayor of Sofia, Georgi Kadiev, once again, leads the Socialists' list which includes 15 councilors.

The right-wing Blue Coalition has 8 seats and the list is topped by another mayoral hopeful – Proshko Proshkov, who was until now district mayor.

The "city parliament" also has two municipal councilors from the far-right, nationalist Ataka party , two from the party of former Tsar and Prime Minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NMSP), and one from the other nationalist party – VMRO.

During its first session, the new municipal council will select their representatives for the General Assembly of the Municipal Bank shareholders.

Fandakova thanked Sofia residents who went to the polls to vote for the future of the city, including those who have cast ballots for parties other than GERB.

"Elections are over; now it is time to get to work. We will focus on strong financial discipline, reducing expenses and attracting more EU funds," the Mayor-reelect said.

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