site.bta DSB Wants Opposition Parties Ousted from Local Governments

DSB Wants Opposition Parties Ousted from Local Governments

Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria, March 14 (BTA) - Passing a
resolution at its national meeting in Plovdiv, the Democrats for
 Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party called on its partners in the
Reformist Bloc to pool their efforts during the upcoming local
elections in order to oust the Movement for Rights and Freedoms
and the Bulgarian Socialist Party from local governments, DSB
Chairman Radan Kanev said after the meeting on Saturday.

Kanev added that cooperation with the ruling GERB party is also
possible to this end, but if GERB refuse to nominate common
candidates with the Reformist Bloc in certain municipalities,
this will prolong the domination of the two opposition parties.

DSB gave very high marks for the performance of the government
ministers from the Reformist Bloc and for the work of the Bloc's
 parliamentary group. The party urged the Reformist Bloc and the
 wider ruling coalition to crack down on corruption after the
Romanian model by establishing an independent specialized
anti-corruption prosecution authority which is not accountable
to any branch of government and can investigate the upper
echelons in all branches, including the judiciary.

Kanev believes it is unnecessary to amend the Election Code
right now, but DSB supports a Patriotic Front proposal for
concrete measures against the buying of votes in the local
elections.

"We are struggling to get to 265 runoffs for municipal mayors,"
Kanev said. The mayoral candidates favoured by DSB will first be
 discussed with the other parties in the Reformist Bloc, and in
some areas it is possible to seek broader support, he said.