Recently, Bulgaria’s President Rossen Plevneliev announced unexpectedly that he would not run for a second term in office this autumn due to personal reasons. His decision triggered a series of guesses and speculations about the name of the future head of state. This topic coincides with heavy disputes around the amendments to the new Election Code and increases the tension in that country’s political life.

Rossen Plevneliev became President of the Republic of Bulgaria as a nominee from GERB party. That is why many people are trying to guess the name of the future nominee of that political party. The hypothesis that the current Premier and leader of GERB Boyko Borissov may run for a President seems groundless. At the beginning of April Boyko Borissov himself announced that he would not participate at the forthcoming Presidential elections and later, during a national political forum, he did not rule out the possibility of supporting a nominee of other political party. Some analysts even interpreted Premier Borissov’s words as a sign towards their former partners in the government-ABV party, where appetites towards the Presidential office are strong. However, this issue is not topical anymore, because ABV already lifted their support towards the cabinet and hinted on possible common nomination with other left-wing parties.

However, the Bulgarian Socialist Party has not yet forgotten that ABV left them in a very difficult moment and view that party’s appetites for future common candidature as a desire to benefit from BSP and rely on hundreds of thousands of votes. The new leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Kornelia Ninova, however, announced that she would initiate a referendum within her party, so that its members can decide how the party should act during the forthcoming Presidential elections. Ninova also pointed out that she would not succumb to groundless political scenarios to the detriment of the socialist party. Thus, the idea about possible common nomination with ABV also seems unfounded.

President Plevneliev’s decision not to run for a second mandate is also associated with the failure of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria to mobilize “all pro-European political parties in Bulgaria” to back his nomination. GERB party already described that appeal as a provocation and an intrigue. The leader of Bulgaria for Citizens Movement Meglena Kuneva also disapproved of that idea, but noted that the Reformist Bloc or the parties from the center-right political space could still raise a common nomination for the Presidential elections.

However, the nationalistic parties supporting the current cabinet do not share the same view. According to the leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization Krasimir Karakachanov, his party and the Patriotic Front coalition should nominate their own candidate for President.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms has not yet decided whether to nominate a candidate from its own party, or support a nominee of other political party. It will probably decide how to act after the final amendments to the Election Code.

Thus, after President Plevneliev’s refusal to run for another term in office, there are only expectations and guesses about the names of the nominees. Today Premier Borissov again said that the time for Presidential elections has not yet come and that his party would raise the candidature of its nominee later in August or September.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov