The Executive Committee of the ruling GERB party changed four of its regional coordinators – in Pazardzhik, Veliko Tarnovo, Haskovo and Razgrad. It happened at eight o’clock in the morning on Wednesday when Interior Minister, Deputy Chairman of the Party and chairman of the election headquarters of GERB Tsvetanov held a press conference at the party’s central office. The time was clearly not randomly selected, and even kids could see that Mr. Tsvetanov was very keen to enter the morning TV blocks. And what had to be inferred, was that the interior minister is not losing his positions in the structures that he created while the party leader, Mr. Borissov, was the mayor of the capital city. And that any rumours suggesting the opposite are exaggerated. And that prime minister is not fighting to win his party back from Tsvetanov.
The news itself that four regional party bosses have to leave their positions is no surprise. The decision was made before Christmas, but the Executive Committee of GERB graciously delayed the publication of the information for the beginning of the new political season.
Petrov, Ivanov and Co.
MP Ivan Ivanov, who led Pazardzhik structures of GERDB was replaced by the regional governor Dr. Doncho Baksanov. His counterpart in Haskovo, Ivan Petrov, passed the local leadership to the mayor of the nearby Dimitrovgrad, Ivo Dimov. Co-chair of the parliamentary group of GERB, Todor Dimitrov, was replaced at the position of the regional structures in Razgrad by the regional governor, Valentin Vassilev, while MP from Veliko Tarnovo Hristo Hristov – by the new mayor of the town Daniel Panov.
The official version as presented by the vice-chairman of GERB Tsvetanov was that decisions were taken after an analysis of local and presidential elections in October last year. Minutes later, however, Tsvetanov surprised everyone with an even more implausible version. For the most part we had regional leader who are simultaneously members of Parliament. We decided that in some of the regions we had to make personnel changes associated with future greater involvement of people on the spot, he said. The truth is that almost half of the MPs from GERD are also district coordinators of the party in their constituencies, but most of them no one intends to ask to leave. The reasons for the reshuffles are in fact the election results and the preoccupation of those who stepped down with staffing, lobbying for closely related companies in public procurement and party intrigues. The thing is that after the move many people acting in ways similar to those of Petrov, Ivanov and Dimitrov still remain at top positions in the party.
Behind the facade of integrity
Behind the move disguised as seemingly fundamental change in the party to such figures there are still many unanswered questions that surely even people from GERB are already asking. One of them was the high-profile scandal with Minister Tsvetanov’s six apartments that burst out in the autumn of 2010.
Representatives of many regional structures in the party are unsatisfied with their local leaders and some of them have sent letters to the national headquarters in Sofia expressing their feelings.
