Plot twist for Bulgarian pro-Russian left amid upcoming elections

5 months ago 25

Former trade unionist Vanya Grigorova, who narrowly lost as the candidate of a coalition of pro-Russian left-wing and far-right parties in Sofia’s mayoral elections last autumn, has announced her candidacy for the upcoming EU and early national elections, although her break with the coalition leaves voters divided.

The new star of the Bulgarian left, Grigorova, who was on the verge of winning the mayoral elections in the capital of Sofia in November 2023, announced on Monday that she will participate in the parliamentary vote.

“Citizens must stop being passive observers and only suffer the consequences of management decisions that are to their detriment. That is why I decided to enter the battle for the early parliamentary elections,” Grigorova added.

She is a former trade unionist who gained huge popularity through her constant appearances on TV debates when Russia unilaterally decided to cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria in April 2022.

At the time, Grigorova argued that Bulgaria should make concessions and start paying for Russian gas in rubles because the Bulgarian economy would struggle without Russian supplies.

Grigorova then ran a very attractive campaign for mayor of Sofia, trying to win one of the most important political positions in the country. She fell just 5,000 votes short of her goal, as the election was won by the pro-European liberal candidate Vasil Terziev (PP-DB).

Experts predict her decision will negatively impact the votes of the main pro-Russian leftist party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (PES). The PES has been polling around 10% for the past three years and is expected to send at least two MEPs to the European Parliament.

On the left side of the political spectrum, there is also The Left, a third left-wing coalition based on the popularity of Maya Manolova, a former ombudsman and ex-MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

There are many separate smaller Bulgarian left-wing pro-Russian and nationalist formations that borrow the political messages of the larger parties.

Grigorova’s decision to run in the national and European elections is also bad news for the pro-Russian far-right party Vazrazhdane, as many of its voters supported it in the Sofia municipal elections.

Grigorova says that the people’s vote in the Sofia mayoral elections gave her confidence that everything she proposed in her campaign for the capital could be done at the national level.

“The ‘mandate’ of this ‘elite’ must be terminated immediately! It is time for social justice, for a fair distribution of what has been produced, so that the lives of every Bulgarian can be improved. And nothing else is so important,” said Grigorova.

The latest polls show that the centre-right GERB party of ex-prime minister Boyko Borissov (EPP) has the backing of 27% of voters, while the pro-European PP-DB coalition is in second place with 17-18%. Third place is contested by the Turkish minority party DPS (ALDE) and the pro-Russian far-right Vazrazhdane, which won the confidence of 14% of those who declared their intention to vote on 9 June.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)