Returning for the 4th Time: GERB Pitches Boyko Borissov as Prime Minister of Bulgaria

For the first time since the potential return of Boyko Borissov as prime minister became a central theme in Bulgaria's election campaign, a GERB representative explicitly stated: "Regular government with Boyko Borissov as prime minister."

This declaration was made by GERB MP Raya Nazaryan at a pre-election event in Sofia, where she met with business representatives. Nazaryan emphasized that GERB has a 4-year management program covering all sectors and aims to implement it through a regular government with a full mandate, according to the party's press center.

"Corruption, which directly affects business and society, can only be effectively combated with concrete steps towards transparency in every part of the administration and a strong, functioning government. This is only achievable with a regular government led by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov," Nazaryan stated at the meeting.

The idea of Borissov becoming prime minister again has been circulating in recent weeks. On May 10, Daniel Mitov from GERB mentioned on television that Borissov "could become prime minister for the fourth time," but it did not gain much traction. The topic resurfaced on May 19 when "We Continue the Change" co-chairman Asen Vassilev claimed that the Movement for Rights and Freedoms chairman told him that "the plan is for Borissov to become president and Peevski to become prime minister." Peevski responded by saying that Hristo Ivanov had proposed Peevski for the presidency and premiership. On May 24, Borissov himself mentioned that WCC-DB "owes him one rotation" and that GERB would "accept a WCC-DB minister if they have their own strong prime minister." This led to pre-election billboards from WCC-DB in Sofia and Plovdiv featuring the question "Who do you want as your prime minister?" with photos of Nikolai Denkov, Borissov, and Delyan Peevski. After a GERB complaint, the Central Election Commission ordered the billboards removed, citing a violation of the Election Code.

Nazaryan was part of the GERB team, along with Denitsa Sacheva and Temenuzhka Petkova, which held 10 days of negotiations with the WCC-DB team, including Hristo Ivanov, Atanas Atanasov, Kiril Petkov, Asen Vassilev, and Nikolai Denkov. Nazaryan later described the negotiations as a "racket" and accused Hristo Ivanov of signing a coalition government agreement, which Ivanov denied.