Plovdiv region turned red – BSP wins in 8 municipalities, let’s take Karlovo as well

• It is mainly due to the personalities, not so much to the party, commented a long-time socialist mayor
• GERB managed to save only Asenovgrad, Rakovski and Kuklen, their leader Maradzhiev lost Stamboliyski catastrophically

The great return of the BSP in the Plovdiv region. This is how the results of the run-offs can be determined, where the red candidates won in six municipalities – Parvomai, Hisarya, Brezovo, Peruštitsa, Sopot and Stamboliyski. To them we must add Sadovo and “Rodopi”, which were taken by the previous socialist mayors Dimitar Zdravkov and Pavel Mihailov in the first round. So the number becomes 8.

“We increased the results by more than 100 percent. Until now, we had only three municipalities – “Rodopi”, Sadovo and Parvomai, and we almost won Karlovo, where the previous mayor Emil Kabaivanov from the SDS defeated Veska Nencheva from the BSP with only 167 votes. In Asenovgrad, we also had big chances,” commented one of the most elected mayors of the BSP, Dimitar Zdravkov, who took the municipality of Sadovo for the fourth time in the first round.

According to him, the red rise in the Plovdiv region is mainly due to the personalities, and not so much to the party itself. BSP MP Manol Genov believes that the success is due to good organization and suitable candidates. “The mayoral election is still a majoritarian one, and when the contenders are well received by the public, the result is there,” he said.

The most stunning is the victory in Parvomai, where the previous mayor Nikolay Mitkov won with 70.07% over Chavdar Zdravchev from PP-DB, who received only 29.05%. Mitkov was a candidate of the BSP, the Left and ITN.

As we reported last night, BSP is taking back Brezovo. There, Kalin Kalapankov won with 55.68% over the local GERB leader Neli Mincheva, who received 42.30%. In Hisarya, Iva Valcheva from the BSP won with 53.43% the previous mayor Penka Ganeva from GERB. Peruštitsa is also red, after Nikolay Bakov took 59.98% and defeated the incumbent Maria Valkanova. And Sopot’s Stanislav Stoenchev won with 54.71% over the incumbent Deyan Doinov, who got 43.99%. The big rout was in Stamboliyski, where GERB’s regional leader Georgi Maradzhiev (39.21%) lost to Petar Nedelev (59.36%), who appeared from the “Citizens’ Alternative” and is considered red.

And Maradzhiev himself, at a pre-election meeting in Plovdiv, boasted to Boyko Borisov that since he was in charge, GERB had been the absolute hegemon in the region and gave assurances that it would be the same in these elections.

“We need to do a serious analysis of the results,” commented Rakovski MP Mladen Shishkov to “24 Chasa”. According to him, GERB retains Rakovski, Asenovgrad and Kuklen. In Karlovo, he supported Kabaivanov, but he is from the SDS.

“Maritsa” municipality could now be included in GERB’s account, if they had supported the previous mayor Dimitar Ivanov from “United Farmers”, who last night won a landslide with 65.34 votes in front of his competitor from BSP Violeta Hristodulova. Until now, Ivanov was always supported by GERB, but this time the party decided to bet on the school director in Skutare, Petar Slavkov, who was voted out in the first round.