site.btaMedia Review: October 14

MRF WINS MUNICIPAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS IN PAZARDZHIK

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) has won the municipal council elections in Pazardzhik, securing 17.13% of the vote, according to the results announced by the Municipal Electoral Commission (MEC) after 100% of tally sheets were processed.

According to the morning programme of bTV, there have been major shifts in voter support in Pazardzhik, where the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) New Beginning has taken the lead, followed by Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria" (CC-DB), while GERB ranks sixth. The results mark a several-fold increase for the MRF – New beginning compared to 2023. The Municipal Election Commission reported no confirmed cases of vote-buying. Commenting on the results were political analyst Tsvetanka Andreeva, former energy minister Miroslav Sevlievski, and journalist Yovo Nikolov. Nikolov noted that suspicions persist, citing an alleged case of a man found with a Porsche Panamera and BGN 10,000 in BGN 50 bills. "That’s about 5,500 votes for the MRF – New Beginning – BGN 250,000, roughly the price of a small apartment in Sofia’s Lyulin borough. Not such an expensive deal, in my view," he said, adding that it is difficult to prove whether vote-buying took place. Former minister Sevlievski commented that "the old MRF cannot be compared to the new one," noting that "the votes of Delyan Peevski are now part of the base of Todor Popov, mayor of Pazardzhik for nearly 20 years. Nothing extraordinary happened here." Political analyst Tsvetanka Andreeva said: "First place is not bought, it is earned. While there may be irregularities, it’s speculative to link them directly to the MRF. Peevski opened up the party and its candidate lists, bringing in new faces alongside traditional members, which broadened support. He also ran a national campaign that projected stability and confidence."

The gap between MRF and the other parties in Pazardzhik is very significant – such a margin of over 3,000 votes cannot be bought, said political analyst Tatiana Burudjieva on Nova TV. Journalist Veselin Stoynev suggested that former long-time mayor Todor Popov may have redirected his electoral base to support the MRF – New Beginning. "This potentially weakens GERB further, as a new strong player emerges in what is often called the clientelist vote," he noted.

Stoynev added that the outgoing mayor, who previously governed without a council majority, will now face the challenge of forming an unusual coalition. He pointed out that "his leader Assen Vassilev has already set the tone – everyone against the MRF – New Beginning". According to him, the developments in Pazardzhik could reflect dynamics likely to appear in a future national vote.

ECONOMY

The Bulgarian National Television hosted a discussion studio on the 2026 State Budget with guests Hristina Hristova, former social minister, and Vasil Velev, Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association General Assembly Chair. Hristova said that tensions and disagreements are common during the budget procedure, but the challenges at the end of 2025 are particularly serious. "We face major difficulties in implementing the 2025 budget, which could lead to significant public debt," she told the BNT. According to her, the 2026 budget will have to be built "on the basis of very unfavorable indicators and a strained fiscal position."

Hristova noted that since 2020 Bulgaria has prioritized spending, including loans for wages and pensions, while neglecting incentives for business and economic growth. "Now we will face serious problems in constructing a budget with such a swollen expenditure side," she said. The chairman of the General Assembly of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association Vasil Velev warned that Bulgaria is "on a trajectory that will lead to disaster unless we change course." He pointed out that in 2025 the state is taking on BGN 19 billion in new debt, of which BGN 12 billion increase the overall liabilities. "That’s 6% of GDP, while reported growth is only 3%. The growth comes from consumption financed by debt, not from production," Velev said. He added that generous wage increases in certain public sectors, including the Interior Ministry, defence, judiciary, and security services, have created additional inequality and burdened the economy. "Our industry is now operating at only 91% of its 2021 level," he concluded.

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An increasing number of Bulgarians continue to work after reaching retirement age, 24 Chasa reported. By doing so, they receive both a salary and a higher pension — on average an additional BGN 16.36 per month, according to data from the National Social Security Institute (NSSI). While the amount may appear small, Bulgaria is among the few EU countries where pensions are not taxed, and retirees do not pay social security contributions from their own income. In 2020, 237,686 people received both a salary and a pension. Their number has since risen by about 125,000, reaching 363,701 as of April 1, 2025, when pensions were automatically recalculated, the NSSI bulletin shows.

HOME AFFAIRS

Mediapool.bg has an article entitled “Zheleznitsa Tunnel – from Fraud Investigations to a European Construction Star”. The article reads that Zheleznitsa Tunnel on the Struma Motorway, the longest road tunnel in Bulgaria, has been named one of the finalists for the European Commission’s REGIOSTARS Awards. The tunnel’s history resembles a movie plot, marked by twists involving contractor selection, construction difficulties, and fraud investigations, before becoming a showcase of EU-funded regional development. The REGIOSTARS Awards, established in 2008, recognize excellence in EU-cohesion projects that deliver tangible benefits to local communities. Bulgaria has two finalists this year: the PlantaSYST Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology in Plovdiv, in the “Competitive and Smart Europe” category, and the Zheleznitsa Tunnel in the “Connected Europe” category. The Zheleznitsa Tunnel, costing nearly BGN 740 million (of which BGN 628 million comes from the EU Cohesion Fund), is a key infrastructure project both for Bulgaria and for Europe. It forms part of the Struma Motorway (Sofia–Kulata), which is included in European transport corridor No. IV, linking Central Europe with the Aegean Sea. The design was completed in mid-2012, but it took three public tenders to select contractors due to strong domestic and international interest and the project’s estimated value of BGN 250 million, the report said.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

BNT reported on the release of Bulgarian-Israeli citizen Matan Angrest. “After two years in captivity, Hamas has released the last 20 surviving Israeli hostages. The remains of several others have been handed over to Tel Aviv, with more expected to follow. In return, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were released in the West Bank. Among the freed hostages is Bulgarian national Matan Angrest, aged 22. He is a soldier in the Israeli army who was captured by Hamas after his tank was attacked near the buffer zone around the Gaza Strip,” the report said.

In the morning programme of bTV, Israel’s Ambassador to Bulgaria, Yosef Levi-Sfari, commented: “Yesterday was a very emotional day. We sat in front of the televisions watching the hostages return after two years. You know how parents have fought for the release of their children. It was an incredible day - our tears wouldn’t stop.” He noted that about 100,000 people had taken to the streets in Israel. “This is not an ordinary event for a nation as small as ours. So many hostages were held in captivity - you know the conditions they endured. Many were tortured, most starved. When they returned, you could see men who had lost 30–40 percent of their body weight. They described how the terrorists ate in front of them,” the ambassador said.

International analyst Martin Tabakov told the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR): “When it comes to peace in the Middle East, I’m always a pessimist, because speaking of the Middle East and peace is usually an oxymoron. Even these very positive steps taken in recent days — including what we saw yesterday with the release of the Israeli hostages, following the suspension of Israeli Defense Forces’ operations — should be viewed in a broader context before we can truly rejoice that peace is possible. This is only the beginning of a process toward a potential final peace between Hamas and Israel, which will require far more complex and difficult compromises from both sides before any real stability can be achieved in the region.”

24 Chasa has an article showcasing before and after pictures of Israeli hostages and describing how they were treated by Hamas.