site.btaSofia City Council Postpones Election of Its Chairperson Yet again, Councilor Warns that New Elections Will Become Imminent if Crisis Not Resolved by Jan. 25

The Sofia Municipal Council Thursday postponed the election of its leader yet again. It did not even try as it was clear that a resolution was unlikely but only voted to postpone the vote for January 25. Karlos Kontrera, who proposed the postponement of the vote, said that talks are underway and they give hope that, together with Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev, consensus can be found about who would chair the Municipal Council.

Council member Boris Bonev, who is the candidate for the council chairmanship of the biggest group, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and Save Sofia, warned that new elections for a local parliament will become imminent if the crisis is not resolved by January 25. "If a chairperson is not elected on January 25, there will be no way out other than new elections for a municipal council," said he.

Mayor Terziev, who was put forward by CC-DB, commented: "The math is simple: without GERB or BSP, or both, we cannot have a stable local government with our participation. [...] With or without optimism, we need to find a solution. We start with optimism every week. We have never stopped to seek a working formula to break this thick ice." He said that the talks continue on Monday.

The crisis was caused by the fact that Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and Save Sofia don't have enough votes to secure Bonev's election and GERB-UDF, which controlled Sofia between 2005 and 2023 but is now the second largest party in the municipal council, refuses to back him or nominate their own candidate.

The Thursday sitting of the municipal council was the sixth on the issue of a chairperson's elections since the elections on October 27. 

"We need at least eight municipal councilors to have a majority in the municipal council. We have not stopped proposing solutions in the last two months," Bonev said.