Karlovo Mayor Elected Leader of Bulgaria's Right-wing UDF
Domestic | July 16, 2012, Monday // 08:10| views
Karlovo Mayor Emil Kabaivanov was elected leader of Bulgaria's right-wing party Union of Democratic Forces, UDF. Photo by sds.bg
Karlovo Mayor Emil Kabaivanov is the new leader of Bulgaria's right-wing party Union of Democratic Forces, UDF.
The result was announced after processing 100% of the protocols from the voting polls.
Kabaivanov won against the Member of the Parliament Vanyo Sharkov in a runoff held Sunday.
The Mayor collected 3 941 votes, while Sharkov lost with a close margin – he got 3 652 votes. 85% of all party members have taken part in the election.
Kabaivanov received support from people in the party, who oppose the union with Kostov or the so-called Blue Coalition while Shrakov was endorsed by Martin Dimitrov.
After the first round, held on July 8, Sharkov came out ahead 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, with nearly 1 600 votes.
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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