site.btaCandidates, Politicians Comment on Local Election Results

Candidates, Politicians Comment on Local Election Results

Sofia, October 27 (BTA) - Candidates and political leaders
commented on the results of Bulgaria's local elections on
Sunday.

GERB

Commenting on the election results from Brussels, where he
attended an extraordinary EU summit on migration, Bulgarian
Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov said that GERB and
 the Reformist Bloc (RB) "performed more than well" and have the
 largest number of winning candidates. "The mayors who won at
one go and their HQs deserve admirations for their work,"
Borissov said, congratulating the RB and ABV.

Borissov also congratulated the opposition in the face of the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and the Bulgarian
Socialist Party (BSP), describing their showing as "strong" so
that "they deserve more attention".

Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova (GERB), who was elected for a
third term even in the first round of voting, told reporters in
Sofia that "this was not a victory foretold but a result of a
job well done". "We will continue to work at an even faster
pace, we start new programmes already tomorrow," she said.

GERB Deputy Chairman and campaign HQ chief Tsvetan Tsvetanov
said that his party expects to win more than 20 mayorships in
regional capitals after the second round of voting next Sunday.
GERB decided not to give a news conference on election night.

Tsvetanov said that GERB's biggest opponent, the BSP, suffered
total defeat in municipalities like Vidin, Turgovishte, Razgrad,
 Shoumen, as well as Lovech and Pernik, so that GERB's showing
could be even better after the run-off.

Tsvetanov said that this is his party's tenth successive
election victory but that GERB will draw conclusions about the
present coalition format after the end of the second round.
"What I can say is that, guided by the national interest, GERB
will treat extremely responsible everything related to the
coalition cooperation and the parliamentary majority." He
stressed that GERB conducted a tolerant campaign.

Reformist Bloc

The RB's mayoral candidate in Sofia, Vili Lilkov, said that the
formation's political goal to place second has been achieved. He
 said that the RB's candidates will compete in the run-off in
five or six boroughs in the capital city.

RB leader Radan Kanev said that these were the third successive
elections in which the Bloc has improved its showing. He
described as "phenomenal" the RB's standing in the Sofia
municipal councillor elections. He also said that the format of
the ruling coalition was "confirmed".

Kanev said that "the [ruling] coalition has been stabilized by
the voters". "Reformulating the coalition is out of the
question," he said. The RB leader congratulated all winners,
noting that both GERB and the RB improved their performance.
"This is a clear credit of confidence and also a huge
responsibility for us to continue our policy, speed up the
reforms and refrain from unguarded comments between us," he
said.

RB election campaign chief Naiden Zelenogorski said that the
Bloc performed better than at the last parliamentary elections.
Zelenogorski described as a success the fact that in 95 per cent
 of the municipalities the RB, which is a coalition of
formations, had a single joint candidate.

Socialists

BSP Spokesman Atanas Merdjanov said that the crashed Central
Election Commission website casts a doubt on the validity of the
 elections. The BSP mayoral candidate in Sofia, Mihail Mirchev,
described the preliminary results as "absurd" and "savage
forgery". He was adamant that the only mechanism to check
whether the elections were fair is the parallel vote count which
 is expected to be ready on Monday.

BSP-Left Bulgaria top-of-the list candidate for the Sofia
Municipal Council Kaloyan Pargov said that the BSP was alone at
these elections and an attempt was made to destabilize it by
excluding key figures, but in general political terms it
retained its second place.

"We are pressing ahead with our march for a victory against
poverty, this passes through a search for partnership with local
 government," Pargov added.

The BSP leadership will give a news conference on the local
elections and referendum results at the party's headquarters at
1 p.m. on Monday.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms

"The result shows that sweeping the MRF [out of power] is a
mission impossible," the party's leader Lyutvi Mestan said.

He noted that the Movement targeted to keep its positions in
local government and, if possible, to expand them. In his words,
 the figures so far show that the MRF won the mayoral elections
in 30 municipalities even in the first round of voting and will
contest a second round in more than 20 municipalities, standing
strong chances of an ultimate victory.

ABV

Georgi Kadiev, who ran for Sofia mayor for a third time and was
this time supported by the Serdica/ABV Coalition, said that
despite GERB's victory in many cities, the next government
should be left-wing, although "the left is still trying to find
itself". Kadiev said that people are discouraged by the
political class and have opted not to vote.

ABV campaign HQs chief Roumen Petkov said that the party invites
 the BSP leadership to hold talks on Monday about the second
round of voting. In Petkov's words, the BSP should have
concluded that "their lofty and negative attitude to the idea of
 a broad, instead of a parcelled, debate has resulted in the
overall failure of the Left". He said also that the low voter
turnout affected all candidates, as did the environment in which
 the elections took place.

IMRO

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) leader
Krassimir Karakachanov said that his party performed well at the
 elections. He argued that there were no election winners but
only losers, and that "the Bulgarian people has been defeated
yet again".

"If the Government is courageous and approaches us for help, we
will back it," the IMRO leader said at an election night news
conference. "If Mr Borissov is willing to form a working radical
 government to tackle Bulgaria's problems, we are available," he
 elaborated. As part of the Patriotic Front, IMRO supports the
incumbent Government but is not part of it.

Karakachanov stressed that his party does not have tensions with
 GERB but is unhappy with the "blustering" conduct of GERB
mayors in some places. "You can't seek partnership when you
treat your partners that why," he insisted.

At both local and central government level, IMRO's support will
depend on the willingness to cope with the Gypsy shantytowns,
unlawful construction, the contracts with monopoly utilities,
and the refugee problem, said the party's mayoral candidate for
Sofia, Angel Djambazki. This discussion, however, will take
place after the final results make clear whether GERB will have
a majority at the Sofia Municipal Council.

Karakachanov pointed out that Djambazki placed fourth in the
capital city and regretted the Patriotic Front's failure to
contest the local elections jointly everywhere, which would have
 led to better results. Still, he noted that the IMRO had
established itself as a leading national patriotic formation.

"I did not see a real election campaign with debates. The
reliance was on administrative pressure, corporate vote and vote
 buying," the IMRO leader commented. He criticized the Interior
Ministry, the State Agency for National Security and the
prosecution service for doing practically nothing to combat vote
 buying.