GERB's Sofia Municipal Head to Call It Quits

The controversial Chair of Sofia City Hall municipal council, Andrey Ivanov. Photo by BGNES

Andrey Ivanov, Chair of the Sofia Municipal Council from the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB), is resigning.

The news was reported by the Bulgarian "Trud" (Labor) daily, quoting an email letter Ivanov sent to them.

"We will discuss everything Tuesday. I have always said that I will assume responsibility and will resign if my leadership is deemed as hurdle for the work of the Council. I think we did a great job during the previous term, especially the GERB group, and Sofia residents voted for us for this reason. But I realize that as Chair I became the focus of many attacks and accumulated negatives" the email reads.

Meanwhile, "24 Chassa" (24 Hours) daily writes, citing own sources, that a complaint of a French investor with interests in the water sector, sent to Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, will lead to Ivanov's resignation.

The investors have revealed that they had been pressed by the Council's Chair to work with certain companies, for which he lobbied.

According to the daily, Ivanov's fate will be decided by GERB's Executive Committee Tuesday – the possible outcomes are: resignation, GERB declaring lack of trust in his leadership, or keeping the post – the most unlikely one.

Borisov already said he had some remarks regarding the Council Chair's work that he would share with the Committee.

Ivanov explains the one such French investor he knew is "Veolia," majority owner of Sofia's Water Utility, stressing he met the management only at official meetings and always in the presence of Mayor-reelect, Yordanka Fandakova, also from GERB. The last such meeting had been held 9 months ago.

Over one year ago, Ivanov was accused of illegally acquiring a number of properties, having excessive amounts of real estate and dealing with murky figures. He firmly denies all allegations.

On November 8, he was reelected Chair of the Sofia Municipal Council in a secret vote and won against the other top contender for the post - municipal councilor from the opposition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and candidate for mayor of Sofia, Georgi Kadiev.

From 60 total, Ivanov got 34 votes while Kadiev got 17.

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