Sofia, July 5 (BTA/GNA) – Ilia Lazarov, a Member of the European Parliament, was elected Chair of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) at the party’s National Reporting and Election Conference in Sofia on Saturday, the UDF reported. Lazarov previously served as the party’s Secretary-General.
Rumen Hristov stepped down as Chair to become Deputy Chair along with UDF Sofia chapter leader and Municipal Councillor Anton Koychev, Karlovo Mayor Emil Kabaivanov and the party’s leader in Varna, Yanko Stanev. Miglena Goranova was elected Secretary-General.
The UDF is part of the GERB-UDF coalition, which is represented in parliament.
At the opening of the conference, Hristov presented party membership cards to young people who had chosen to join the centre-right party.
The National Conference also adopted a political declaration, stating: “The Union of Democratic Forces, the first democratic community in Bulgaria after the end of communism, which set the country on the path to full membership of NATO and the European Union, carried out the transition from communism to a market economy, and embraced freedom in all its dimensions as the foundation of society’s values, identifies the victory of the democratic community in the presidential election [this coming autumn] as its most important political objective”.
“There is no democratic community in which the UDF does not participate,” the declaration says. “There is no chance of winning the presidential election without the joint efforts of all political forces within that democratic community, including GERB and the UDF. Anything less would amount to participating for participation’s sake and handing victory to the left. That would be yet another betrayal of the people who consistently support and vote for the values of democracy.”
The declaration adds that the presidential election represents a historic opportunity for Bulgaria’s democratic community to unite and repay voters’ trust through mature political action leading to victory. The UDF called on all democratic parties to work together for a joint nomination for president and vice-president.
On Wednesday, Hristov wrote in a Facebook post that the time has come to make way for a new party leader to take responsibility for the future development of the UDF.
GNA/BTA