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The Battle for Varna: Mayoral Candidates, Apathy, and City Issues Dissected in bTV Debate

Editor: Yulia Georgieva, bTV footage

In the debate for the mayoral seat of Varna on bTV, Ivan Portnih did not come. GERB did not accept the invitation to participate. According to sociology, he is in first place in terms of approval – with 26%. In second place is Kosta Stoyanov from Vazrazhdane with 17%, followed by Blagomir Kotsev from PP-DB with 15%. In fourth position is Pavel Ralichkov from BSP with 10% approval, and in last place – with 2% is the candidate for mayor of ITN Ivaylo Kostadinov.

The main opponent in the battle for Varna is the apathy of the people, that’s why I call on the people of Varna to come out and vote so that we can change this vicious model of the city’s management, comments Kosta Stoyanov, Vazrazhdane.

I believe that I will get to a runoff and we will win these elections in Varna, but we have signals that there is a redirection of GERB’s vote to Vazrazhdane, so that Vazrazhdane can get a runoff, which is a very comfortable opponent. That’s exactly why a week ago I sent a signal to the Ministry of the Interior asking the minister to check. We have the feeling that the people of Varna are faced with the same scenario as in 2019 – that there is a convenient candidate like Kostadin Kostadinov, who is easily defeated by Ivan Portnih. We believe that the same thing is happening now, commented Blagomir Kotsev, PP-DB.

These are very interesting statements. They are groundless, but it will be interesting to see what the result of this signal will be, replied Stoyanov.

One thing is clear – both GERB and Vazrazhdane have reached their limit in electoral support, so nothing in Varna is clear yet. We are making progress, there is still time before the elections, so let’s not rush, commented Pavel Ralichkov, BSP.

One of the city’s main problems that the candidates outlined in the debate is dirt.

The city budget for cleanliness has more than doubled in recent years, and our city is many times dirtier. We all know how street washing in Varna is imitated, Ralichkov pointed out.

In turn, ITN candidate Ivaylo Kostadinov pointed out that there are several solutions to this problem. To begin with, he advocated the idea that it is high time that everyone pays such a garbage fee, which is levied on the garbage actually thrown away, as is the case in European countries.

It turns out that we annually pay an increasingly large fee, and at the same time the service is under all kinds of criticism, he pointed out.

It should not only be about technology. We have a fundamental difference with the others. According to the BSP, cleanliness and construction should be in the hands of municipal enterprises, which, besides everything, will open many new jobs in the city and will save a lot of money for Varna citizens through the budget, commenter Ralichkov.

There is nothing wrong with public procurement, but it should be transparent. And at the moment, the municipality works under a veil, it is not possible to see what is happening on the website, the terms of the contracts are not verbal, counters Kotsev.

When asked about the city’s problems, residents of Varna also pointed out the ubiquitous dirt in the first place, but they also emphasized the traffic jams that formed after the construction of the roundabouts. “These roundabouts are disgusting,” commented one respondent.

Boulevard Levski, because of which the roundabouts were made and traffic jams began to form, is not only the most expensive boulevard in all of Europe, but it is a project pulled out of mothballs. Yes, the city needs it, but the project itself is morally outdated and does not meet our needs today. Because the main traffic in the city is not south-north, which is the direction of the boulevard, but east-west, that’s why these traffic jams occur, Ralichkov pointed out.

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2023-10-17 05:47:00


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