site.btaSocialist Leader in Pernik: Vote for Us If You Want to Crush "Borissov Model"

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Korneliya Ninova told supporters in Pernik on Tuesday that those who want to keep "the Borissov model" from rising back to power should vote for the BSP in the upcoming elections, the BSP press office said.

Boyko Borissov was prime minister between 2009 and 2021, with some interruptions. He leads the right-wing GERB party.

Ninova argued: "We the BSP remain the only ones who are unsusceptible to Borissov's behind-the-scenes tactics, patchy coalitions and shady dealings. The choice today is, you are either with the mafia or against it. We should prevent a relapse into the years when GERB dragged Bulgaria to the lowest positions in all rankings."

Addressing the people who "took to the streets in towns and villages across the country in 2020", protesting against the Borissov model, Ninova said: "CC-DB betrayed you, we did not. They laundered Borissov and brought him back. CC-DB and GERB will join in an embrace again and will forget about you. We will not. You should mind actions, not promises."

CC-DB (Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria) were behind the latest regular government between June 2023 and April 2024 together with GERB-UDF. Ironically, CC had emerged as an anti-status-quo (anti-GERB) party in the wake of massive street protests against Boyko Borissov and his third government, held from July to November 2020. A CC government, headed by prime minister Kiril Petkov, was in power between December 2021 and August 2022.

Ninova's meeting with voters in Pernik was also attended by Boris Tsvetkov, who tops the party's list of candidates in the local constituency for the Bulgarian parliamentary elections, as well as Rumen Gechev, BSP's number two candidate from Pernik in the European Parliament elections, and Filip Popov, also running in the European race.