Expats

Bulgaria's Ruling Party 'Gets' One More Mayor by Mistake [Dec 11, 2011] More than a month after Bulgaria's 2011 local elections a Bulgarian town has had its newly-elected mayor changed, at least according to the municipal correspondence with a key central authority institution. A letter from the State Agriculture Fund, a Bulgarian government agency that handles the distribution of EU funding for agriculture and rural development, has sent a letter to the ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Outgoing President Hints of Comeback as Head of Socialist Party [Nov 11, 2011] Georgi Parvanov, Bulgaria's outgoing President, has confirmed that he will return to the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) after the end of his second and last term in office. During a press conference on which he commented on the outcome of the recent local elections, as well as a number of other present-day issues, Parvanov vowed to help the leftist from which he started his political ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria votes for president [Oct 30, 2011] Bulgarians vote Sunday in the second-round run-off of presidential and local elections, largely tipped by analysts to tighten the grip on power of the ruling right-wing GERB party. [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Election Body Fails to Censure Ruling Party MPs for Interfering with Elections [Oct 29, 2011] Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission failed to adopt a pronouncement Saturday on the fact that two ruling GERB party MPs were present at the Sofia Municipal Electoral Commission upon counting ballots. The two GERB MPs were uncovered by reporters amid the chaos that erupted at the Sofia commission right after the first round of presidential and local elections last Sunday. According to ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Switches Back From Daylight Saving on Election Day [Oct 29, 2011] Bulgaria will switch back from summer daylight saving time in the wee hours Sunday, the day the second round of presidential and local elections is scheduled. Officially, Bulgarian time will return to regular at 4 am, switching an hour back. In this way the more sleepy among Bulgarian voters will have one more hour to cast their ballots. ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Allows Mobsters to Vote, Bans Decent Citizens [Oct 27, 2011] Top mobsters, who have been in hiding and wanted for years, have the right to vote in Bulgaria's presidential and local elections, unlike hundreds of decent citizens, who were banned "by mistake". Nikolay Marinov, aka the Little Marguin, and Plamen Dishkov aka Kela, are just two of a few underworld lords, whom authorities surprisingly skipped to include in the restrictive list with Bulgarians ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Regional Devt Minister Confesses to Omissions in Electoral Rolls [Oct 26, 2011] Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister, who is in charge of the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Administrative Service (GRAO), has admitted that there were cases of unfounded removal of names from electoral rolls at the October 23 presidential and local elections. Lilyana Pavlova attributed the errors to the faulty system for civil registration and insisted that the Civil ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Turkish-Bulgarian Leader: Elections Will Turn Tide in Bulgaria [Oct 23, 2011] Bulgaria is set for a deep change in its political history, stated Movement for Rights and Freedoms party leader Ahmed Dogan after casting his vote in Sofia for Bulgaria's presidential and local elections Sunday. "I voted for a normalization of the political process in Bulgaria and greater responsibility on the part of politicians," said the leader of the party which traditionally has strong ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Declares Day of Reflection in Elections Eve [Oct 22, 2011] A day of reflection is held in Bulgaria Saturday in the eve of the October 23 presidential and local elections when campaigning under any form is banned. The Election Code does not allow placing campaign materials such as posters and brochures of different political parties, coalitions, and initiative committees inside voting polls or within 50 meters from the building where it is located ? this ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Electoral Campaign Failed to Touch Voters' Hearts - Pollster [Oct 20, 2011] The candidates running in Bulgaria's presidential and local elections scheduled for Sunday have failed to properly get their message through to the majority of the country's voters, Mira Radeva from the MBMD polling agency says. A mere 18% of Bulgaria's potential voters have stated they have followed the candidates' presidential campaigns, while some 14% have paid attention to the local ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria PM Borisov set to tighten grip after polls [Oct 20, 2011] SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boiko Borisov is set to tighten his grip on power in the European Union's poorest member in presidential and local elections on Sunday, after a campaign marred by protests and violence. [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Ruling GERB Dominates Media in Elections Eve [Oct 18, 2011] Bulgaria's ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party is completely dominating the country's media reports on the campaign for the October 23 presidential and local elections. Meanwhile, some parties and candidates have been subject to a nearly full informational blackout, according to a study of the Institute for Social Integration, whose results were ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Opposition Unites to Demand Emergency Parliament Session [Oct 11, 2011] Bulgaria's centrist, leftist, and rightist opposition has come together in a rare motion to demand the holding of an emergency Parliament sessions just as the MPs were about to go on break over the upcoming presidential and local elections. Last week, the ruling center-right party GERB sponsored a decision for giving the MPs time off between October 12 and 21, in order to prevent "the use of the ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Ruling Party, Opposition Exchange Accusations of Poll Rigging [Oct 06, 2011] Bulgaria's ruling center-right GERB party and opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms exchanged accusations that they are creating conditions for unfair local elections in southeastern town of Kardzhali. Kardzhali is located in a region of Bulgaria predominantly populated with ethnic Turks, who have traditionally been the Movement's loyal electorate, but of late GERB has attempted to gain ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Outgoing President Freezes Activity of ABV Movement until after Elections [Sep 15, 2011] The Alternative for Bulgarian Renneisance (ABV) movement, launched by President Georgi Parvanov in November 2010, will stay frozen throughout the upcoming local elections. According to an announcement of Parvanov, ABV has not put forth mayoral nominations, and if any of the founders of the movement decides to run for city office, it will be a personal initiative. Bulgaria's current head of state ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Electoral Rolls Haunted by 10% of 'Dead Souls' - Report [Sep 14, 2011] A total of 10% of the Bulgarians listed in the major cites' voter rolls for the upcoming presidential and local elections in the country are "phantoms", a local paper has alarmed. Bulgaria's Citizens Registration and Administrative Services has listed thousands more potential voters than the recent census carried out by the country's National Statistical Institute would suggest, the local ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Electoral Body Vows to Welcome OSCE Election Observers [Aug 17, 2011] Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has made it clear it would welcome observers for the presidential and local elections on October 23, 2011, if the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe decides to send any. "We are not afraid of being observed," one of the CEC spokespersons, Biser Troyanov, stated Wednesday. The CEC statement came in response of concerns raised Tuesday ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria to Save BGN 8 M from Combining Local, Presidential Elections [Jul 01, 2011] Bulgaria is going to save about BGN 8 M by opting to hold the upcoming presidential and local elections together, according to Finance Minister Simeon Djankov. Speaking in Parliament Friday, Djankov explained that BGN 26 M have been slated under the 2011 State Budget Act for the holding of the double vote in the fall of 2011. Individual elections (i.... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's FinMin Yields Ground on Fiscal Board Vote after Meeting President [Jun 08, 2011] The parliamentary vote on the proposed changes to the Bulgarian Constitution to adopt a Financial Stability Pact is likely to put off till after the presidential and local elections in the fall of 2011, according to Finance Minister Djankov. Djankov announced his new tentative deadline for the adoption of the fiscal board on Wednesday after meeting President Georgi Parvanov, with whom he has ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Industry Watch: Bulgaria's Budget Deficit Might Worsen over Elections [Jun 05, 2011] Bulgaria's budget deficit and fiscal reserve might be affected negatively by the presidential and local elections in the fall of 2011, according to Industry Watch, a Sofia-based consultancy. According to a new non-periodical report of the think-tank, the elections will create pressure for increased state spending, therefore, a scenario of worsening budget deficit and a further depletion of the ... [via YahooNews] More >>