Anton Hekimyan’s registration for candidate for capital mayor of GERB is a surprising move. But not completely unusual for the innovation-loving Boyko Borisov. This solution is more of an amalgam of ellipsis queries.
It is significant that Borisov withheld the candidacy for mayor of the capital until the last, despite the long-announced one main opponent from PP-DB. In addition, he did not present his party’s candidate for Sofia in person, as he did with the one for Plovdiv. Unlike party cadre Kostadin Dimitrov, a long-term regional mayor in the second largest city, Hekimyan is a completely external candidate. And although he received nominations from local party organizations, he can hardly be recognized as one of Borisov’s fellow party members, regardless of whether and how close he was to him and his party as a journalist.
Hekimyan – pros and cons
Yes, Borisov has no problems in Sofia, as in Plovdiv, where he had to get rid of the former mayor Zdravko Dimitrov and the head of the local party organization Ivan Totev, in order to finally place Totev’s right-hand man as a candidate for mayor. But he did not bet on the chairman of the Metropolitan Municipal Council, Georgi Georgiev, who, although he is well received by the local structures, is hardly recognizable outside the party.
Whether Borisov was looking for candidates with management or business experience and whether they turned him down is irrelevant. Now, Hekimyan’s candidacy relies mainly on his recognition, which can compensate for his entry last in the race. It is also a plus that he is a young person and a good communicator who could attract young people who are otherwise party apolitical. The downside is that this application doesn’t carry the weight that a resume of someone with experience in state or local government would.
Symmetries between Hekimian and Terziev
Hekimyan is structurally symmetrical to his main opponent Terziev – he has a successful career, he also has managerial experience in a private corporation, the difference is only in scale. It aims to be competitive and in your opponent’s main asset – education, as Terziev has behind him tens of thousands trained at the Telerik Academy. Being external to the party, he is not responsible for the negatives of the long-term management of GERB in Sofia, but he can hang on to his achievements and lead a positive campaign. However, he will hardly have time in a month to delve deeply into the problems of the metropolis, no matter how closely behind him are the experienced municipal officials and the publicists of COAT OF ARMS. Terziev, who is inexperienced in municipal issues, does not show much progress on these topics for now, even though he has months behind him as a candidate for mayor.
The biggest symmetry between the two, however, is in the burden they start with. Vasil Terziev immediately attacked GERB’s candidacy with an accusation of the serious dependence between power and the media and asked how long the trust between Borisov and Hekimyan dates from, and how objective the news director of the big television was in his work. And the leader of BSP Cornelia Ninova asked Borissov if Hekimyan was a “mole” of GERB in this television. Thus, already in the first hours of his campaign, the candidate of GERB for mayor of the capital turned out to have the same “difficult past” as the candidate of PP-DB. But unlike him, the burden comes from one’s own biography, not from that of relatives.
The question remains whether there will be a serious clash between the two main contenders for the post of mayor or whether in the election campaign each will mainly fight to take the burden off his back. And whether some of the voters of GERB, as well as some of the voters of the parties that stood behind Terziev, will not reorient to Vili Lilkov.
Continuation of assembly or escape from responsibility?
The suspicion continues to hang as to whether Hekimyan Borisov’s candidacy aims to continue the “assembly” at the local level as well, because many perceive it as not particularly serious. Or is he trying to escape from the responsibility for a defeat expected of him in Sofia.
Whatever positive campaign the two main contenders for the mayor’s seat lead, the political clash between PP-DB and GERD is inevitable. Moreover, with these candidates injured at the start, the unloading of one’s own burden cannot happen individually. Not because one would hardly refrain from pointing the beam in the opponent’s eye. And because topics that are difficult for society are brought into focus, which cannot simply be bypassed: after the question of the legacy of “State Security” and the equal start in the transition, now the question of media addiction from political power. Thus, the elections in Sofia are shaping up to be not just talk about sidewalks, kindergartens and traffic jams, but a debate about the severe deficits of Bulgarian democracy, which we all need.
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This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and DV as a whole.
2023-09-25 21:17:17
#GERB #aim #Hekimyans #candidacy #Sofia #25.09.2023
