BTA: Bulgaria Pushes for Formal Coalition Agreement of Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria and Common Centre-Right Presidential Candidate

The National Council of the Yes, Bulgaria party, which is part of Democratic Bulgaria in its CC-DB coalition with Continue the Change, has adopted a decision tasking the party with proposing a formal coalition agreement to its partners in CC-DB, the party’s press office announced Friday.

According to the statement, the coalition currently operates without a formal agreement, and the proposed document is intended to establish clear governing structures and decision-making mechanisms. It would outline coalition management bodies, rules for decision-making, principles for the parliamentary group’s work, criteria for nominating candidates, and a unified personnel policy. It would also seek to eliminate party quotas in future elections.

Another major focus of the decision is the development of a "roadmap for the creation of a unified democratic centre-right political entity" involving the coalition parties and potentially other participants outside the current alliance.

The National Council also instructed the party’s Executive Council to begin preparations for the upcoming presidential elections and to work toward securing support "as quickly as possible" for a common democratic centre-right presidential candidate.

The decision also sets specific priorities for MPs elected under the “Yes, Bulgaria” quota in the new parliament. These include maintaining a clear opposition stance against excessive concentration of power, proposing right-wing fiscal measures in the draft state budget, and introducing a new Judiciary Act with updated criteria for selecting members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Other priorities include advancing anti-corruption legislation previously proposed by Yes, Bulgaria lawmakers, calling for the removal of state security protection for GERB leader Boyko Borissov and Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Delyan Peevski, and introducing measures to prevent misuse of funds from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). These healthcare measures include requiring private hospitals to hold public tenders for medicines and introducing SMS notifications for health services.

Mirchev also commented a situation around Manol Peykov, a long-serving MP and candidate for the new Parliament in a Plovdiv constituency, after it transpired that his place in the new Parliament is threatened by a possible decision by Assen Vassilev to enter the legislature as a representative of the same Plovdiv constituency rather than Haskovo, where he is also the top-of-the-list candidate for Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria. There have been multiple calls on Vassilev to choose Haskovo so as not to prevent the entry in Parliament of Peykov, who is seen one of the most recognizable faces of Democratic Bulgaria and the coalition with Continue the Change.

Mirchev said that it is up to Continue the Change to decide which constituency Assen Vassilev will represent in Parliament.

Assen Vassilev has previously urged Democratic Bulgaria to choose whether they want to see in Parliament Manol Peykov or Vladislav Panev (who won't get a seat if Vassilev choses to represent Haskovo).

Shortly afterward, it emerged that Vassilev had decided to take his seat from Plovdiv, leaving Peykov out of Parliament - unless other CC-DB candidates are reshuffled on the list of this constituency.

Further on the coalition agreement, Bozhidar Bozhanov said that based on the election results, the coalition clearly has certain failures in many aspects and measures need to be taken so that Bulgarian people can see in CC-DB "an alternative to the model that is being built at the moment". "We are offering a roadmap with all the steps to a political entity that will consolidate the forces in this part of the political spectrum," he said.

Asked whether having a common presidential candidate with GERB is an option for their party, the Yes, Bulgaria officials said that GERB does not belong in the centre-right.