The former Minister of Defense and leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Workers' Party Nikolay Nenchev, who was elevated by his party, was the first to announce his candidacy for the presidency. Incumbent President Iliyana Yotova announced in a television interview that she would be an independent candidate for president, supported by an Initiative Committee, but the BSP has already officially supported her. Prof. Daniel Valchev and the acting Minister Andrey Gyurov, although not quite categorically, have announced their participation. Is the presidential race already taking shape, commented on the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" with presenter Tsonya Sabcheva on Radio FOCUS, political psychologist Prof. Antoaneta Hristova.
She stated that Iliyana Yotova is a much more visible and much stronger candidate from the point of view of the role she plays and the fact that she continued a rather bright mandate of President Radev until now.
"In this way, she inherited a position that is visible and that gives her the opportunity to show her image, her positions and her messages much more brightly than others. She plays her cards very well“, said the political psychologist.
Prof. Hristova also analyzed the interview in which Yotova announced her candidacy.
"The interview she gave, in which she announced her candidacy, stood out from all the others with her categoricalness, determination, in that she was not afraid to answer all the questions, with a request that was extremely down-to-earth and normal. There is no other answer than the one she gives to almost all the questions asked by the journalist, and she seemed like a person in her place. In this situation, I can say that the candidacy is indeed well ahead, while the others are late not only with the announcement, but also with their positioning“, commented Hristova.
She also commented on the interviews of Daniel Valchev, Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev and stated that they “sound unconvincing and uncertain, at least to this day“.
According to Hristova, the fact that Rumen Radev has not yet supported Yotova for president is the right move.
"It is not right for him to announce her yet, because we are currently in a pre-campaign, in which not all candidacies have yet been announced. It is quite logical then, when these are citizen initiative committees, for him to look at the possibilities. The logic of the action assumes this. And then to say: "I stand behind the respective candidacy". And the fact that the hypothesis that Yotova's candidacy is 99% is like a hypothesis that has long been accepted and allowed. But despite everything, the logic of the action is to announce everyone and then Radev to announce who he supports", she explained.
In her words, it makes no sense for Radev to look for a new candidate.
"The only thing that may sound logical, however, is that the other candidates, for example some of the candidates – I heard such a hypothesis – may appear as a "duck candidate for shooting" type, in order to cut off certain voters in order to ease the path for another candidate. But such petty calculations never come out in the end", she said.