History offers many examples of vassals or vassal states breaking their oaths of loyalty and changing masters after the central power has weakened or under external pressure. Something similar now appears to be happening in Bulgaria. Stara Zagora mayor Zhivko Todorov has stepped down from the leadership of GERB, after previously refusing his leader’s request to head the party’s list in the Stara Zagora electoral district.
It would therefore come as little surprise if, in the not-too-distant future, Boyko Borisov found himself a general without an army, growing older in isolation and solitude.
The wave created in these elections by “Progressive Bulgaria” swept even through cities such as Stara Zagora, traditionally regarded as GERB strongholds. Borisov’s party did not even go into defensive mode; its campaign was lacklustre, if it can be said to have had one at all.
But perhaps that is not surprising. Flying white flags and surrendering strongholds without a fight is surely the strategy of a leader who is backing away and searching for a route towards the winner, frightened by the prospect of prosecution and by the possibility of betrayal by his own provincial lieutenants.
Todorov’s decision to abandon GERB has a history, and Rumen Radev’s reception in Stara Zagora on 3 March is part of it. On the national holiday, the two men walked side by side at the head of the long ceremonial procession to the Defenders’ Monument, prompting many to wonder whether there was more to the scene than met the eye.
Todorov – formally Borisov’s mayor, but behind the scenes aligned with Peevski – is now laying out a path towards Radev as well. There are reasons for that. In these elections, “Progressive Bulgaria” landed a right hook on the collective body of GERB in Stara Zagora.
The reason is not only the expectations people have placed in Rumen Radev, whom many have come to see as the only politician capable of confronting the Borisov-Peevski model.
It is also the result of Todorov’s own policies, particularly during his current term. Businesses are frustrated that a large share of public money distributed through procurement contracts goes to companies close to the leader of DPS–New Beginning, while local entrepreneurs are being overlooked.
Residents are angry with their mayor over corruption that they say is no longer even being concealed, the poor quality and years-long delays in repairs, the concreting of their parks and the disregard for public opinion. They are tired of living for years in a city that is constantly dug up and dirty, with terrible traffic and persistently dusty air.
It is no coincidence that both Zhivko Todorov and Dimitar Nikolov, who is also a member of GERB’s executive committee, refused their leader’s request to head the party lists in Stara Zagora and Burgas. They had the eyes to see the hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians who had taken to the streets to protest against the Borisov-Peevski model, and the ears to hear what they were chanting. They also knew that a defeat for the party would be a personal failure for them.
GERB gets two seats from Stara Zagora in the next parliament
One will go to the longstanding leader of the list, Krasimir Valchev.
The small number of people who know him are likely to remember him as the education minister who repeatedly entered and left his office without any visible benefit, while the academic community can best point to the damage, particularly in relation to allegations of plagiarism.
Manoил Manev, second on the list, who presents himself as a historian, a bachelor’s graduate and PhD student in national security at the Ministry of the Interior Academy, as well as a Knights Templar and writer, is ending his parliamentary career.
He will be replaced in parliament by Iliana Zhekova from Kazanlak, who received more preference votes.
Manev will no longer be thundering against his leader’s enemies from the parliamentary rostrum, his powerful voice and lightning-like stare having become familiar features of the chamber.
The irony is that Manev, who was disciplinary dismissed from the Interior Ministry, chaired the parliamentary committee on national security and internal order in the outgoing parliament.
“Progressive Bulgaria” gets six MPs
The formation of former president Rumen Radev will have six MPs from the Stara Zagora district.
Twenty-five years later, Radev and his “Progressive Bulgaria” are repeating the success of Ivan Kostov in 1997, when the United Democratic Forces also won six seats in the district.
First on the list is Oxford-educated business administration graduate Aleksandar Pulev.
He will be joined by Krаm Nedyalkov, one of four professors on the Stara Zagora list from Trakia University, and Elena Noneva, chairwoman of the Social Democrats party, known largely as a serial mandate holder.
They will sit alongside journalist Vyara Petrova, who has worked for several television channels; finance specialist Mariam Sakaz, regional coordinator for Framar in Sofia and daughter of the owner of a nationwide pharmacy chain; and Krasimir Papazov, chairman of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria at the Arsenal arms factories in Kazanlak.
Pulev and Nedyalkov have both been part of the pool of personnel used by Radev’s caretaker governments in recent years.
As in previous parliamentary elections, the PP-DB coalition will win only one seat in the district.
Its representative will again be Radоslav Ribarski of Continue the Change, who headed the coalition’s list.
The national drama between the coalition partners to some extent reached their Stara Zagora organisations as well, although they kept their internal disagreements out of public view. That was probably for the best, because otherwise they might have failed to win even this one seat.
How they move forward, and whether they can preserve both their working relationship and the coalition ahead of the presidential election, depends entirely on the parties’ leaders.
That is, of course, if they can restrain their egos and put forward a joint candidate capable of winning the internal contest organised by the Forum for Democratic Action, created to select a single candidate for the democratic community in the presidential election, and then unite behind that candidate.
That would demonstrate political maturity.
It remains unclear, however, whether the differences between the coalition partners are merely personal and leadership-based or whether they are rooted in principle. If the latter is true, continued coexistence between Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, even without public scandals or rows, would be neither productive nor honest. It would be better for the alliance to end.
Revival also suffers a heavy defeat on 19 April
Kostadin Kostadinov’s Revival party, which has traditionally enjoyed strong support in the region, lost more than 13,000 voters compared with the previous parliamentary elections in October 2024, as well as one parliamentary seat.
With 4.8% of the vote, Revival will send only Iskra Mikhailova to parliament. The lead candidate has already gained parliamentary experience from her presence in previous legislatures.
Delian Peevski and DPS–New Beginning no longer have their own municipalities in the region
Even in Galabovo and Pavel Banya, where the mayors are aligned with Peevski, “Progressive Bulgaria” won the election.
That success was undoubtedly driven not only by the wave created by Rumen Radev’s entry into the political race and his coalition, but also by police operations that frightened vote-buyers. In Gurkovo, some of the money allegedly intended to buy Roma votes was reportedly spent in casinos.
As a result, neither Isa Besoолу nor Nikolay Tonev will enter parliament on behalf of Peevski’s party. Instead, Shendoan Khalid will take the seat after the first two candidates give up their mandates.
Whether they will also abandon Peevski, as Zhivko Todorov has abandoned Borisov, may become clear well before next year’s local elections.
The first signs that Peevski’s mayors are beginning to reposition themselves are already visible. According to sources cited by the author, Nikolay Tonev himself proposed a former deputy mayor of his as the party’s representative in Galabovo municipality to Ivan Cholakov, the regional coordinator of “Progressive Bulgaria” in Stara Zagora.
That person is Dobromir Burov, who resigned as deputy mayor after a drugs scandal involving his son.
These are only sketches of a political burlesque that is likely to entertain us – and not only entertain us – over the next four years.
