The election battle has already begun, and GERB's refusal to nominate its own presidential candidate pair shows a serious deficit in the party. This was stated by Tsvetan Tsvetanov, former Minister of Internal Affairs and former Chairman of GERB, to bTV.
He commented on the state of the party, the upcoming presidential elections, the role of party structures and the fight against the oligarchic model.
Tsvetanov recalled that he took over the chairmanship of GERB at the beginning of the party's existence because of the legal restrictions imposed on Boyko Borisov.
„I left the deputy mayor's position in the Sofia Municipality to head the party and focus entirely on structuring the party and creating this energy that we saw in 2009,“ he said.
According to Tsvetanov, GERB has suffered negatives in recent years due to its governance and has gradually lost part of its political profile.
„GERB has suffered a lot of negatives in recent years from the governance that was in the country, the protests that citizens have been holding since 2020, and the gradual abdication of GERB's profile and identity," he said.
In his words, the party is no longer the factor it was years ago. As an example, Tsvetanov pointed out that GERB does not participate with candidates in the elections for the Supreme Judicial Council and does not nominate a presidential candidate pair.
„Now you see that GERB is not even submitting proposals for the Supreme Judicial Council. And GERB was only doing judicial reform a few months ago and demonstrating what they want to achieve and how they should do it“, said Tsvetanov.
“Now, the fact that they are not participating in this election, not participating with a presidential candidate pair, means that there is a huge deficit there and everything goes through the prism of the survival of the leader Borisov“, he added.
According to Tsvetanov, preparations for elections should begin months earlier, not in the last two weeks before the expiration of the registration deadlines. He gave an example of the first years of GERB, when the party participated in the European and local elections in 2007, although it was still uncertain whether it would win them.
“Preparations for an election should not be the last two weeks, when the registration deadline expires. And this is months of preparation, even a year in some elections," he said.
Tsvetanov pointed out that participation in elections gave the party the opportunity to check the real state of its structures and discover its weaknesses.
„And this gave me the opportunity, as the person who was responsible for the party and the structures, and for the preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections, to make a comprehensive analysis. And then I saw that we already had some horizontal coverage in the municipalities, but in the small settlements, the villages, we had not reached that point“, he said.
According to him, this was precisely the reason why I went around the small settlements in search of people who would represent the party.
„This was my main emphasis to go around the smallest settlements, in order to look for the right people to represent us and to be able to receive the support of over 1,600,000 voters in 2009“, Tsvetanov pointed out.
He rejected the thesis that GERB should give up participating in elections that it is not certain to win.
„This cannot be an argument. I am giving an example. GERB registered with the Sofia City Court, the registration that came out was in March 2007. May 2007 was the European elections. And we participated in them, even though we were not sure that we would win these elections, and we won them“, he said.
Tsvetanov defined as a serious problem the fact that, in his opinion, the party has lost the energy of its first years.
“This emotion, this energy is no longer there“, he said.
According to him, Boyko Borisov is trying to distance himself from the negatives accumulated by the GERB government by betting on new faces.
“Borisov is currently hiding behind young minds, but it is only so that he can somehow be washed with all the others who have negatives in the GERB government“, Tsvetanov said.
He pointed out that, in his opinion, some of the former cadres and sympathizers of GERB are already perceived as opponents by the party. He gave Delyan Dobrev as an example, as well as Zhivko Todorov and Dimitar Nikolov.
“There is a change in the attitude towards Zhivko Todorov and Mitko Nikolov, because Mitko Nikolov was exploited that he could be the potential presidential candidate, but Mitko Nikolov has never stated these intentions“, said Tsvetanov.
He recalled that Nikolov was among the names discussed for GERB's presidential candidate in 2016, but then he refused due to his commitments in the local government.
Tsvetanov also commented on the comparison between GERB and other political formations that have lost their influence.
„GERB would not be in this state if Borisov did not rely on those around him and those who dictate to him what to do. Because Borisov does not know the party infrastructure“, he said.
According to him, Borisov does not maintain sufficient direct contact with people in the party structures.
„Borisov always appears at every political event, this can be said by all members and sympathizers with whom we have participated in many events. He comes as our leader, appears, announces the specific theses that he wants to state, and leaves. "However, you can't treat people this way," Tsvetanov said.
He also made a comparison with his own work in the party.
“I have always been before an event and have been the last to leave the event so that people can be spoken to“, he said.
According to him, the decline in support for GERB shows a problem in the party.
“This demon, if I was there then, why did we achieve over 1,100,000 votes in every parliamentary election, why did we have the first victory of 1,600,000, why after I left there, then there is someone else who is a demon and negatively influences the processes in GERB. And this is a fact, because GERB currently has 430,000 votes only 4 months ago, when the elections were held. This, in my opinion, is an extremely catastrophic situation“, said Tsvetanov.
He also rejected the thesis that it is natural for every party to reduce its influence at some point.
„When it loses its own profile, when backstage deals are made and it betrays its own people, this means that you are already letting your party down. You are letting down your regular strongest sympathizers. You are losing the periphery. At the moment there is only one solid core“, said Tsvetanov.
As an example, he pointed to Blagoevgrad region and several former mayors, who, according to him, were among the strong figures of GERB.
„In Blagoevgrad region, the mayor is Atanas Kambitov. In Sandanski, Kiril Kotev. In Bansko, Zhoro Ikonomov. In Petrich, the acting mayor is currently Brchkov. In Razlog, it is Krasi Gerchev. All these mayors were the strength of GERB and we always won as the first result in Blagoevgrad region“, he said.
Tsvetanov stated that in his opinion Borisov made mistakes in his attitude towards some of these political figures.
„Borisov also betrayed Kiril Kotev. He also betrayed Georgi Ikonomov. He also betrayed Nasko Kambitov“, he said.
At the same time, Tsvetanov acknowledged Borisov's role in building the party.
„We must be objective. Borisov was the charismatic, ratings-driven political figure who appeared on the political scene“, he said.
According to him, however, Borisov has not developed politically enough and has surrounded himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear.
„Borisov, however, has not grown over the years. He simply closed himself off from those who tell him what he wants to hear. And this is actually his problem“, said Tsvetanov.
He emphasized that Borisov has contributed to the building and strengthening of GERB, but the role of the people who worked for the party should not be underestimated.
„Borisov has made a significant contribution to the survival, building and strengthening of GERB. But let's not belittle the work of all these valuable and quality people who did it voluntarily and did it with one single goal. To bring about some change in the country," he said.