Two former prime ministers are vying for victory in the Bulgarian elections

Vladislav Bonchev

Sofia, March 31. Two former prime ministers, anti-corruption reformer Kirill Petkov and conservative populist Boyko Borissov, are vying for victory in Bulgaria’s general election on Sunday, their fifth in two years.

According to opinion polls, both of them may reach about 25% in the polls, which is probably not enough for either of the two to form a government coalition with other parties that ends the political instability in the Balkan country.

Kirill Petkov

An entrepreneur, Harvard-trained and promoter of “zero tolerance” for corruption, Petkov intends to turn Bulgaria into an example of transparency, in order to “eliminate thieves” who each year steal about 2,000 million euros from public funds.

The leader of the new party We continue to change (PP) was prime minister between December 2021 and July 2022, after falling in June of that year due to a motion of no confidence by Borisov’s GERB party.

Petkov, 42, triumphed against all odds in the fall 2021 election, winning the hearts of many voters with his refreshingly positive rhetoric, as well as his experience as a successful businessman.

Its mission is to put an end to the “Borisov political model” that prevailed in the last decade and was considered close to the mafia and the local oligarchy.

Nicknamed “Bulgarian John Travolta” or “Emmanuel Macron of the Balkans”, Petkov was born on April 17, 1980 in Plovdiv, the second largest Bulgarian city.

He spent his childhood in Sofia, where his parents were teachers. He graduated from a reputable English teaching college, when his parents had already immigrated to Canada in 1994.

After joining his parents in Vancouver, he graduated with a degree in Finance from the University of British Columbia before finishing his MBA degree from Harvard University, USA, as the top honors of his class.

Petkoff majored in developing business strategies, in addition to teaching classes in economic development and the microeconomics of competitiveness at Harvard University.

Despite running successful businesses in Canada and the United States, Petkov decided to move back to Bulgaria 15 years ago with his Canadian wife, with whom he has three daughters.

As an entrepreneur, he develops projects in the field of innovation with high added value, with successful works in the development of probiotics and biotechnology.

Boyko Borisov

“The fans. The crooks. They persecuted us, but we survived,” says Boyko Borisov, who is still unclear if he aspires to be Bulgaria’s prime minister for the fourth time.

The populist conservative dominated Bulgarian politics between 2009 and 2021 as prime minister in various executives.

Known to his followers as “Batman”, the former firefighter, karate fighter, bodyguard, policeman and mayor of Sofia accuses Petkov and his entourage of causing the high inflation that prevents Bulgaria from entering the eurozone.

Borisov, 63, cares about his image as a “man of action” and at the same time a “man of the people”, able to speak clearly and not hide his humble origins.

Even his critics admit that he has charisma, although they accuse him of populism, inconsistent activities and policies without a clear strategy, as well as constant changes of opinion and positions.

Born in a suburb of the capital, Borisov has no qualms about using street language, sometimes overtly gruff and masculine, though he considers himself an honest, communicative and hard-working man.

With the advent of democracy in 1990, he opened his own private security company and was a bodyguard for former communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, and later for Prime Minister Simeon of Saxe-Coburg.

Borisov, who is divorced and has a daughter and two grandchildren, entered politics at the hands of Simeon, who in 2001 placed him in the post of Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In December 2006, he founded his own party, Citizens for European Development in Bulgaria (GERB), and three years later was sworn in as Prime Minister for the first time. EFE

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