After 18 years of GERB rule, the capital will be led by a person whose candidacy was put forward by another political force.
However, the second round of voting in Sofia ended in a "photo finish" - a difference of just under 2 per cent, or just over 5 000 votes, separated the two opponents for the mayoralty of the city of almost two million people. Vasil Terziev, candidate of the PP-DB and Save Sofia, leads with 48.17 per cent of the vote, while Vanya Grigorova, supported by BSP for Bulgaria, has 46.92 per cent. Because of the small difference in support, the left-wing parties have not ruled out the possibility of challenging the Sofia elections in court.

• CEC results from the second round of local elections with 100% of protocols processed

The capital's mayor-elect, who has management experience in the technology sector, ran a pragmatic campaign, proposing solutions to long-delayed problems, attending numerous meetings and not refusing to debate his opponents. Trade union activist Vanya Grigorova, on the other hand, put the "little man" at the centre of her campaign, playing on populist messages from the past such as nationalisation, ending concessions and privatisation of municipal property, and centralising the budget.

"I would like to thank all the people of Sofia who came out to vote, all those who supported me and our candidates for district mayor - said Vasil Terziev in a laconic comment - "I would also like to thank the people in the sectional election commissions, whose work to protect the vote is just beginning".

Vanya Grigorova's election headquarters said last night that they were confident there would be cause for celebration, and urged citizens to wait for the final results.

The votes for us were cast in hope, not disgust, if I may quote one of the current coalition leaders - said mayoral candidate Vanya Grigorova on Sunday night. - And despite all this, despite the problems we saw on election day, despite all the slander, we remain hopeful. We believe that hope lives on and that freedom is within our grasp. The morning is wiser than the evening.

Increasing the number of people who will make decisions in favour of the city, quality development and an end to "repairing repairs" style corrective maintenance, a better business environment and more investment, new parks and kindergartens, fast public transport, fighting corruption - these are some of the promises made by Vasil Terziev - a businessman and investor in technology companies, as well as co-founder of software company "Telerik".

The mayoral elections in the country's second largest city, Plovdiv, were the least tightly contested. GERB candidate and acting district mayor Kostadin Dimitrov beat PP-DB nominee Ivaylo Staribratov by a wide margin in the first round of voting. Analysts say that his success - amid simmering discontent with the city's leadership - was due in no small part to the fact that he had distanced himself from the incumbent mayor, Zdravko Dimitrov, who plunged into disgrace a year earlier after GERB leader Boyko Borissov accused him of being at the root of numerous scandals and called for his resignation.

"Plovdiv is in need of development," were the first words of the newly elected mayor, Kostadin Dimitrov, after the results were announced.

"A long campaign, conducted with only positive messages - this is how the new mayor sums it up. - Many problems have arisen in Plovdiv in recent years, and as priorities we can point to the cleaning of the city and traffic jams, which are currently at their peak. I hope that as soon as the repairs are completed, we will begin to decongest the main roads. I also hope that we will have a greener and cleaner city, full of events, where every citizen has a place and every place is maintained with responsibility and care".

If ever there was a tight race, it was the mayoral election in Varna, where the incumbent mayor since 2013, Ivan Portnih of GERB, faced his equal in former regional governor Blagomir Kotsev of PP-DB. In the first round, the two parties shared the leadership of the city council with an equal number of councillors, bringing the decisive battle to the mayor's field.

Blagomir Kotsev promises his fellow citizens that he will review the public contracts signed during his predecessor's term of office, attract new investment in IT technologies and manufacturing, and take care of the suburbs, which he says should return to normality.

The new mayor of Varna is a graduate of the American University in Washington and the City University of London. After seven years abroad, he decided to return to Bulgaria.

"Varna proved to be a truly free city - one of the two cities where democracy really had its say today - Blagomir Kotsev said. - Sofia and Varna (PP-DB candidates - ed.) won the local elections, and I am very happy. The first thing I will do is to open a regular reception day for citizens. This is symbolic, but it will make it clear that we want to invite the people of Varna into government."

"Some of the mayors will have the opportunity to continue their current work," said Deputy Minister of Regional Development Angelina Boneva, "but those who will now take over will have to familiarise themselves with the current projects being implemented by the municipalities and financed by EU funds, especially as regards infrastructure projects. Concentrated efforts will be needed for the 2014-2020 programming period, as the deadline for activities and payments is 31 December this year. Mayors will have only eight or nine weeks to analyse the status of each project and possibly optimise timelines. There are risks due to the complexity of the projects, especially in the education, social and health sectors. In practice, there is an overlap between the end of the programming period under the Regional Development Programme and the start of the new one, as well as with the deadlines under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, where there are many municipal projects. It will be difficult to prepare contracts and get projects approved for the new period.

Silvia Georgieva, executive director of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, said that unlike the last local government term, when almost no EU-funded projects were launched, municipalities would now be working very hard to get actual investments from both the Operational Programme 'Environment' and other EU programmes.

"This year, many calls have been opened to municipalities for upgrading education infrastructure, building new kindergartens, replacing street lighting, replacing water and sewerage networks, building youth centres and personal development centres - all projects funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan," she added. These projects have been prepared, submitted and most of them have already been approved by the ministries. The contracts for them are to be signed and their implementation started immediately after the New Year.