site.btaVazrazhdane Underperformed at Local Elections, Party Leader Says

"Vazrazhdane's performance was not the one we wanted to say," the party's leader Kostadin Kostadinov said here on Tuesday at a BTA-hosted news conference, the first since Bulgaria's October 29 local elections.

He noted that his party has always targeted being the foremost political force and are dissatisfied by the results. Kostadinov blamed the low voter turnout and vote buying and controlled vote that distorted the election results.

The leader pointed out that his party fielded candidates in 247 out of a total of 265 municipalities, everywhere on a straight ticket with the exception of two coalitions. A total of 201 Vazrazhdane municipal councillors and one municipality mayors were elected, Kostadinov reported. He specified that his party lost three runoffs. The 201 municipal councillors are distributed in 86 municipalities, and in 23 of these Vazrazhdane has the second largest group, he pointed out.

"The result is probably not the one we wanted to see but will enable us to stand steady in the municipal councils over the next four years," the Vazrazhdane leader said.