Velizar Enchev

The deadline for those willing to run in the snap parliamentary election of Bulgaria is Wednesday, February 08, election authorities have announced.

Seven parties and six coalitions have so far filed registration documents with the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Three of the candidates for president, which the Central Election Commission admitted to the race, have been associated with the former Committee for State Security, reported Desebg.com.

Krasimir Karakachanov is the candidate of the United Patriots - NFSB, VMRO and Ataka. He worked as an agent (code name Ivan) for Directorate 6 for combating Ideological diversion of State Security.

Bulgarian Socialists have invited the other opposition political parties in Parliament for talks on potential joint action against the centre-right minority coalition government led by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov on Friday say his institution had done its best to prevent a diplomatic conflict with Turkey from spiralling.

Speaking before lawmakers as part of a regular Q&A session with ministers, however, he acknowledged ties between the two countries had been strained by some recent developments.

Independent lawmaker Velizar Enchev has announced he is to put forward in September a bill that would allow for cannabis to be used for medical purposes.

He has warned that "thousands of people suffering in Bulgaria" could find a means to alleviate their pain if they are able to use a mouth spray and has underlined that legalizing smoking has never crossed his mind.

Velizar Enchev has a degree in journalism from the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski." He was a correspondent of the Bulgarian National Television in former Yugoslavia in the period 1987 - 1993. He was Bulgaria's Ambassador to Croatia in the period 1997 - 2002. After that Enchev was TV host of a broadcast of SKAT TV.

A Bulgarian lawmaker formed on Saturday movement called Bulgarian Spring which is said to be modeled after Greece's far-left SYRIZA party.

Enchev told members and supporters that in 25 years of democracy in Bulgaria, there have been 25 blows to the country which have turned it into the EU's poorest member state.

Velizar Enchev, an MP who quit the nationalist coalition Patriotic Front (PF) last year, has announced he is due to set up his new organization on April 4-5.

The entity is due to be founded in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria lying in the north-central part of the country.