The coalition of the sanctioned under the global law "Magnitsky" and defendant Vasil Bozhkov "Center", who will appear before the court on Friday on charges of crimes under the so-called gambling case, achieved a better election result than the former chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev, who investigated him, and the coalition in which he participated - "Civil Block". This was reported by "Dnevnik".
With 93.53% SIC protocols processed in RIC and data as of 18:00 today, the result of Bozhkov and "Center" is 22,920 votes, which is 1.16% of voter support. The former chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev, who participated in the elections in the coalition "Civil Bloc" together with the Party of Bulgarian Women of Vesela Draganova, has gathered the support of only 2851 people, or 0.14%.
However, to the extent that both formations are registered with the CEC as coalitions, they will not benefit from a state subsidy, which for parties is due after passing 1% of support, and for coalitions it is 4%. The subsidy is calculated on the basis of the actual votes for the respective party, multiplied by BGN 8. This is the value that Budget 2024 sets.
On June 9, the former chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev, leader of the list of the KP "Civil Block" and the accused Vasil Bozhkov, who leads the list of candidate deputies of the "Center", faced each other in 25 MIR, where traditionally the so-called leadership battles.
When the beginning is difficult, success is ahead. Thank you for the support. Center continues its fight to victory. #БудетеЗдрави", Vasil Bozhkov wrote on his Facebook profile, from where he mainly runs his campaign, the day after the elections. His first party "Bulgarian Summer" managed to appear in only two votes in 2021, and in the second one he received only 1.80%, after which he fell under the sanctions under the "Magnitsky".
"Thanks for the efforts of everyone who joined the campaign and everyone who supported CIVIL BLOCK! We continue together!", Geshev addressed his supporters to report the election result.
Bozhkov has the most votes in Sofia, Blagoevgrad and Pazardzhik, CEC data show, with data from 97.03% of the protocols, and 1,550 Bulgarians abroad voted for "Center" of Bozhkov.
The coalition, in which Geshev also participates, has received the greatest support in Sofia, Blagoevgrad, Burgas and Sliven. 49 people abroad voted for the coalition of the former chief prosecutor.
While he was the chief prosecutor, Ivan Geshev investigated Vasil Bozhkov, and after the return of the gambling businessman to Bulgaria and after the removal of Geshev in various media appearances, both of them have commented on the question of whether they would cooperate against Boyko Borisov, whom they both accuse.< /p>
"I would partner with Ivan Geshev's party if he would honestly come out and say how he worked, who ordered him and what outrages he did. He should repent, tell the truth about everything that happened, and then we could partner with him," commented Bozhkov in response to a question about whether he would partner with the political project of former chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev.
At the beginning of May, Geshev commented to Stanislav Tsanov: "The fact that you are an adversary with someone does not mean that you cannot respect him to some extent. These are two parallel highways. Whoever gets there first will be good for Bulgaria", thus confirming that he prefers to work with him than with Borisov.
Movement "Center" was founded by the businessman Vasil Bozhkov in February 2024, after his previous political project - "Bulgarian Summer" was included with him in the list of those sanctioned under the American "Magnitsky" law. persons and organizations and cannot stand in elections. Partners of Bozhkov, who has been charged with nearly 20 charges, are the former partners of "Bulgarian Rise" and Stefan Yanev - the "Svoboda" parties and "Bulgarian Agricultural Party".
With a coalition "Civic Bloc" the former chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev, whose political project has not yet been registered, appeared in the elections. The parties Bulgarian Democratic Union "Radicals" and the Bulgarian Women's Party.