site.btaUPDATED GERB Leader Borissov to Not Run in Presidential Elections

GERB leader Boyko Borissov said on Thursday that he would not be a presidential candidate. "I have been asked this question since I was born, and my answer is always no, and my actions have proved it," he told journalists during an inspection of construction work at the Dyulino Pass.

He said there were candidates who could gather support from three or four parties and win.

According to Borissov, the National Assembly had done a huge amount of work before its summer recess. Bulgaria is finally a full member of the European Union, he noted, referring to the entry in the eurozone as of January 1, 2026. 

In his words, however, never in his entire career had he seen such relations between parliamentary groups. The GERB leader thinks there currently is "sanitary cordon" only around Continue the Change (CC), and there is no other formation that is not wanted by anyone.

Borissov also told journalists that being closed down is the least punishment that the Anti-Corruption Commission should receive for having saved Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev (CC), who was arrested in early July over a corruption tipoff. The GERB leader stressed that in Sofia, only the mayor of CC and the flag are now in City Hall. "All the deputies left, the coalitions fell apart, this would have happened in Varna in just a few months, but the Counter-Corruption Commission saved Blagomir Kotsev from disgrace," Borissov argued. He described the ongoing protests against Kotsev's arrest as "purely partisan."

Borissov added that the work on the election of Counter-Corruption Commission members will have to continue, otherwise Bulgaria would EU resources, because CC leader and former finance minister Assen Vassilev has tied the election to the Recovery and Resilience Plan and EU funds.

During Thursday's inspection at the Dyulino Pass, Borissov was accompanied by Regional Development and Public Works Minister Ivan Ivanov and the Chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Regional Policy, Public Works and Local Self-government, Nikolay Nankov.