Ivan Ganchev, the regional chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in Shumen, has resigned from his party post ten days after the parliamentary elections.
Ganchev submitted his resignation on 27 April, members of the regional BSP council told “Za Istinata”. Ganchev, an attorney, chairman of the Novi Pazar Municipal Council and longtime BSP activist, did not respond to telephone calls seeking comment.
He was an MP in the 47th and 48th National Assemblies and became the regional leader of the BSP in 2023.
According to members of the regional council, Ganchev described his resignation as an act of personal responsibility for the poor result in the latest election.
At the start of the campaign, however, the BSP leader became linked to what was then the largest donation to the rival political formation backed by Rumen Radev. The woman with whom Ganchev lives donated €20,000 to the campaign of “Progressive Bulgaria”.
The donation triggered strong reactions and discontent among BSP members because Ganchev was not only the party’s regional leader but also chairman of the socialists’ campaign headquarters.
At the time, Ganchev said he saw nothing improper in his partner’s actions. He argued that he continued to work for the BSP campaign personally, while she was free to support other political formations.
The party leadership did not ask for his resignation despite the dissatisfaction among rank-and-file socialists.
In the 19 April parliamentary election, BSP–United Left received just 2,004 votes in Shumen region, or 2.9%, compared with 28,687 votes, or 41.9%, for the winning “Progressive Bulgaria”.
The BSP lost 52% of its support in the region. In October 2024, the left-wing coalition had received 4,183 votes, or 7.7%.
Novi Pazar mayor also leaves the BSP
Despite the official explanation that Ganchev resigned to take personal responsibility, in his hometown of Novi Pazar it is an open secret that both he and mayor Georgi Georgiev, who is serving a second term for the BSP, are linked to Rumen Radev’s political formation.
Ganchev chairs the Novi Pazar Municipal Council and is a close friend of Georgiev. Photographs on social media show the two families regularly celebrating together. Both Ganchev and Georgiev are members of the BSP National Council.
Both are now being linked to Radev’s formation – Ganchev through his partner’s €20,000 donation, and Georgiev through his children’s godmother, Stela Zagorcheva, who was third on the “Progressive Bulgaria” list and entered parliament as part of the former president’s group.
“They have both taken a 200-degree turn towards Radev, and we are waiting to see what happens to their careers,” BSP activists in Novi Pazar said.
That development has now materialised. Both Ganchev and Novi Pazar mayor Georgi Georgiev have left the BSP, according to party members.
At a meeting of the Novi Pazar municipal BSP council, resignations from the party were submitted by Ganchev, Georgiev and deputy mayor Ayan Mehmedov, who was a BSP parliamentary candidate in the latest election.
Other employees of Novi Pazar municipality have also left the BSP. Unofficially, some of them say they are doing so under pressure from the mayor.
Among local socialists, various scenarios are circulating about the future careers of the two former party leaders.
Ganchev is reportedly being discussed as a possible regional governor of Shumen. Georgiev, meanwhile, appears to have secured political backing to remain mayor until the end of his current term and potentially seek a third term, this time with “Progressive Bulgaria”, if he decides to run again.
Whatever the personal political future of the two men, residents of Novi Pazar may see little immediate change: the same people remain at the head of the municipality, only under a different political banner.
