Political Parties Do Not Disclose Their Presidential Candidates for Fear of Unleashing Smear Campaign

President Rumen Radev announced, over the weekend, that the presidential election and the election for parliament would take place simultaneously - on 14 November. And even though there are just two months to go until them, the leading political players in the country are not disclosing the names of their candidates for president as yet. One explanation why they are still holding back are fears of unleashing a smear war.

 What is clear at this time is that President Rumen Radev will be running for a second term of office, and that he is supported by the Bulgarian Socialist Party, "There Is Such a People" and by "Stand Up, BG! We Are Coming!". He also received support, of a kind, from caretaker Minister of Economy Kiril Petkov who may take part in the early parliamentary elections with a political project of his own. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), however, is not going to back Rumen Radev, after the President asked MRF leader Mustafa Karadayi which his ancestral home was. "We contributed to Rumen Radev's election as president, now we shall modestly contribute to his not being re-elected," MRF MP Jordan Tzonev said for BNT.

GERB party leader and former PM Boyko Borissov stated that the best plan for a new head of state was to nominate a joint rightist candidate.

 "I do not think that Boyko Borissov will be GERB's candidate for president," GERB party MP Toma Bikov commented for the BNR. "GERB is going to nominate a candidate on the basis of their concept and their profile - someone capable of taking a central place in the political dialogue; of beginning to reinstate the role of the presidency as the kind of space where even the fiercest opponents can sit down at the same table and reach accord on cardinal issues; of taking the first...