Bulgaria's Presidential Elections: DOST Party Endorses GERB Candidate

DOST head Lyutvi Mestan has announced his party will back the candidacy of Tsetska Tsacheva, the nominee of Bulgaria's main ruling party, in the presidential elections.

Mestan's announcement comes to no surprise, as he earlier indicated the Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance (DOST) may endorse GERB's candidate unless he ran himself as leader of the party.

"There is no way for DOST to back left-wing candidates," 24 Chasa quotes him as saying. GERB party describes itself as conservative, while DOST is centrist, tilting slightly to the right.

But he has added none of those twenty-one running in the race meets his party's criteria. A good candidate should have called for both Russia's withdrawal from Crimea and then removal of sanctions, Mestan has opined.

Mestan has explained he could not endorse the Reformist Bloc's candidate, Traycho Traykov, despite DOST's respect for him, as it was the RB that helped "nationalists" into power.

Neither DPS, Bulgaria's second-largest opposition force and the biggest ethnic Turk-dominated party, nor its new rival DOST (which splintered off the DPS) registered their own candidates.

The DPS, whose support for a presidential candidate is deemed crucial for the outcome of elections, is expected to make a public endorsement later on Thursday.