Municipal Elections 2007
The commission for declassification of the secret services archives announced on October 25 that of the candidate mayors registered by the election committee, 420 had collaborated with the former secret service, BTA said.
Of the candidates in Sofia and its regions, 10 had worked with the service, Focus news agency said. Only two candidates for the central city had worked with the secret service, Brigo Asparuchov, candidate for the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Radko Hadzhiev, , candidate for United National Front.
The other eight former agents were candidates for regions and included Boyan Boyadzhiev, GERB candidate for Vitosha, Dimitur Dimitrov, candidate for Bulgarian Socialdemocrats in Krasna Polyana, Ibrahim Karahasanov, candidate for the Green Party in Lyulin, Ivan Petro, candidate for the Green Party in Lozenets, Lyudmil Yordanov, candidate for GERB in Oborishte, Plamen Krustev, candidate for BDNIE in Ilinden, Boiko Koichinov, candidate for BDNIE in Krasno Selo and Stefan Gulubov, candidate for BDNIE in Triaditsa.
Two of the members of the Central Election Committee (CEC) collaborated with the communist-era secret services, the commission for declassification of the secret services archives said on October 23 2007.
The two are Roumen Elenski and Tsvetozariya Iosifova-Krusteva, mediapool.bg said. Iosifova-Krusteva was a secret collaborator and held agent quarters. She worked for the services until 1990. Elenski was on the staff of the services. In 1982, he become an intelligence agent and in 1985 was sent to the KGB school in the USSR. In 1989, he became senior intelligence agent. National Movement for Stability and Progress nominated Iosifova-Krusteva for the CEC in 2003, while Elenski was nominated by Bulgarian Socialist Party in 2005.
Some 15 000 to 20 000 voters are to arrive to Bulgaria’s Kurdjali on October 28, the day of the municipal elections, Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB) informal leader Boiko Borissov said on October 21 2007.
Bulgarian Parliament and the three ruling parties, Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF) and National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) made that possible, Borissov said as quoted by mediapool.bg.
Borissov called “nasty and foul insinuation” the statements that if CEDB nominee for Blagoevgrad mayor Kiril Pandev won the elections, he would agree to storage of Sofia’s waste in Blagoevgrad. In the beginning I enjoyed these statements, there were similar rumour about Vidin and other cities as well, Borissov said. The administrative potential of Bulgarian cities, including Sofia, was small and European funding remained unutilised. “Only 10 to 15 per cent of the money is utilised and in the same time we complain that we are poor, hungry and weak,” Borissov said.
Bulgaria: Local Elections 2003
In October, Bulgaria held local government elections. The elections created severe tension in the political situation of the country as the current government is failing to provide the promised results in the first 800 days of the political program. The government is headed by Bulgaria’s former King Simeon, who ruled for three years until he was nine, when his family was exiled from Bulgaria after the Communist take-over in 1944. In 2001, he was named as Bulgaria’s prime minister becoming the first exiled East European monarch to return to power.
Four major political forces participated in the elections. Among them were the National Movement “Simeon II” (now in power), the Bulgarian Democratic Party (in power during 1997-2001), the Socialist Party (in power in during 1996-1997) and Liberty and Rights Movement (representing the minority Muslim population of Bulgaria). While final results of polls will become clear after the second round in a week, it is already clear that the ruling political party did not win the local elections.
As the government is getting close to their first 800 days the statistics are the least to say threatening. More than 65% of the Bulgarians live with less than 100 Euro a month, while large corporations close to the government are increasing in income and status. The medications are 40% more expensive than two years ago and the cost of electricity has doubled. One million Bulgarians have immigrated since 1990.
