Manol Peikov: Slavcho Atanasov lied to the people of Plovdiv as a fighter against the GERB model in Plovdiv – Local elections 2023

The well-known Plovdiv resident and publisher Manol Peykov revealed yet another case in which a “fighter against the GERB governance model” in local elections turned out to be the main ally of Boyko Borisov’s party.

The occasion is the support that Slavcho Atanasov from “United for Plovdiv” gave to the GERB candidate for mayor Kostadin Dimitrov just days after the first round of the elections. Atanasov came in third, and the new union with GERB was announced personally by Borisov during his visit to the city.

Manol Peykov, who is also a member of parliament from PP-DB, published two photos of Atanasov, taken only two days apart. In the first Atanasov voted on Sunday, and in the second he is already with Borisov and his competitor Dimitrov.

“In the first photo, Atanasov, standing in front of the ballot boxes, invites the people of Plovdiv to come out and vote, because “only in this way can the management model of the last 12 years, which brought the city to a severe financial crisis, be overcome” (the words are his own). More little more than 48 hours later – after it was already clear that he would not be in the runoff and even before the body of hope for change had cooled, the self-proclaimed lord of change is already wringing his hands with the very model of governance of the last 12 years!” commented Manol Peykov on Facebook.

In his post, Peykov presents more evidence that Atanasov and GERB have long been the same model and their partnership was restored just two days after the elections. He published the schedule with the votes in the previous municipal council of Plovdiv, when painful decisions had to be made for the people of Plovdiv.

“From the third photo we understand that in the Plovdiv municipal council GERB and “United for Plovdiv” (albeit in their previous guises) have practically voted together AGAINST the public interest in four of the five most important votes of the last four years. In other words , Slavcho lied not when he shook hands with Kostadin Dimitrov, but when he spoke about himself as a bearer of change,” Peykov wrote.

In fact, history shows that every 4 years the people of Plovdiv are lied to in the same way. A political alternative to the status quo is cultivated, which then joins that status quo. In 2019, in “Union for Plovdiv”, the main role was played by Dani Kanazireva, who fought against the vicious management model of GERB. With these messages, she won the trust of a part of the people of Plovdiv, which she later traded for the position of regional governor, and then for a national representative from GERB.

Now Slavcho Atanasov has built his campaign on promises that he will fight the GERB model, which has been governing Plovdiv for 12 years. For this model, Atanasov claimed that it had brought the city to a severe financial crisis, and stated that he intended to overcome it through his candidacy. But that was until two days ago, before he pledged his support to Dimitrov.

“If you don’t want four more years of the same – go out and vote! Vote on November 5 to show that the choice is not theirs, but yours!”, urges Manol Peykov.