MP, Mayor Contest Leadership of Bulgarian Rightists
Domestic | July 11, 2012, Wednesday // 19:06| views
Blue Coalition MP Vanyo Sharkov. Photo by BGNES
MP Vanyo Sharkov and Karlovo mayor Emil Kabaivanov will face each other in a runoff Sunday for the leadership position of Bulgarian rightist Union of Democratic Forces.
Sharkov has come out first at the first round last Sunday, receiving 3,172 votes, followed by Kabaivanov with 2,624 out of a total of some 8,000 UDF supporters who voted.
Third was long-time UDF key politician Ivan Sotirov, while MP Lachezar Toshev remained fifth.
The Union had to elect a new leader, after Martin Dimitrov resigned mid-May over uncertainty regarding the future of the Blue Coalition of the UDF with offshoot Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, led by former PM Ivan Kostov.
Although support for the Union is dwindling and the Blue Coalition has only 12 MPs (out of 240), during the transition from socialism in the 1990s, the Union of Democratic Forces was Bulgaria's leading rightist political actor.
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