GERB party held a national conference, elected new deputy leaders

GERB party, the majority partner in the outgoing coalition government, on May 11 convened a national conference. The event is held online due to the epidemic situation in the country.

Yordanka Fandakova, the Mayor of Sofia, and Dimiter Nikolov, the Mayor of the Black Sea city of Bourgas, have been voted out as deputy leaders of the party.

The forum elected outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and Daniel Mitov – the former foreign minister as the new deputy leaders.

GERB leader and outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that he was not withdrawing his trust in Fandakova and Nikolov, but they will have more time to run their cities.

The two have become members of GERB’s executive committee.

His new deputies will have more time to devote to party affairs, communication with party structures, meetings with members and supporters, and preparations for early parliamentary elections.

Borissov said that the new proposals for his deputies are reaffirming GERB's position as a centre-right and Euro-Atlantic party, which he described as an important signal to his partners.

With this proposal, I want to give a clear signal of where GERB is going, which countries we want to look like and what we are striving for," the party leader told the delegates.

"Bulgaria and Europe face severe geopolitical challenges. We must have clear principles. GERB states these principles. My nomination shows a clear direction," said Daniel Mitov, who used the rostrum to criticize President Rumen Radev for hiding the adopted declaration from the B9 summit of the heads of state. The declaration says it condemns Russia's aggressive actions in the Black Sea. The document also expresses concern about the explosions in military warehouses in Bulgaria, Mitov explained.

Tomislav Donchev outlined the need for "GERB to remain a political force that thinks for the common good", reproaching other political forces for "cultivating radical minorities".

"Politics is the art of living together," Donchev said, calling for the conversation between the parties to be returned to the level of "political pragmatism".

The party delegates also approved other changes. Menda Stoyanova, Krassimir Velchev and Plamen Nunev were released as members of the Executive Committee , and Desislava Taneva, Alexander Nenkov, Emil Radev, Daniela Saveklieva, Irena Sokolova and Andrey Novakov were released from the Control Commission.

Borissov told the delegates in the conference that “we have two very difficult months ahead of us”. The party will be faced with a lot of money against it coming from oligarchs, he said.

The delegates also voted to adopt amendments to GERB's statutes, according which, GERB's Executive Commission will have 12 members, instead of 8, including a head and two deputy heads.