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ACTS Post opinions with a wide range of perspectives to foster constructive discussion.
How could Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s visit to Muslim-populated villages in the Velingrad region be described? Like a breakthrough in “Peevski’s fortress”? Flirting with the Bulgarian Mohammedans? Or just another inspection for applause and public thanks? The answer is: all together.
Encountered encores
Less than a month ago, Borissov missed the inauguration of his favorite: the third metro line, a project worth about 400 million euros. It was also the only court band so far. The reason: the threat of falling under the siege of the protesters. And while in the center of Sofia they whistle it, in the Rhodopes it is different. There they tell him that they adore him.
Over the weekend, the prime minister climbed 1,400 meters above sea level to speak with the hodges of the region and hear the thanks of the “Pomak GERB”, as defined by the mayor of Rohleva village, Mustafa Pashaliev. There were no protesters there, only praise for the Borisov government and the cries not to resign. “He’s not in the West either!” Pashaliev said in a video posted on Facebook, pointing to a paved road. “And people yell that they don’t love you!” Borisov replied. “We are grateful to you here! If you say, we will come and a hundred people (in Sofia – note) … With us you know what the situation is – where the mayor is going, there and the people with him!”, Pashaliev says in response and here the prime minister changes the subject.
Salih Tronchov, a hodja from the town of Magerovo in Velingrad and a civic activist who has been fighting for 9 km of asphalt for three years, explained to Deutsche Welle why there were no protesters during the prime minister’s visit, only applause. “When such a visit is planned, only the mayors of GERB are notified. People don’t know about it, so there are more and more supporters around Borissov.” Tronchov is known for his battle to pave the 9-kilometer dirt road, on which teachers and others commute to their jobs every day, and students are transported in a minivan. Through this “road”, the three villages of Tsvetino, Ablanitsa and Magerovo are connected with Velingrad.
Boyko Borissov did not open a word about this dirt road, but in Krastava he promised asphalt for 2 kilometers, as well as a gym, starting with the next second update of the state budget.
Is it still “Peevski’s fortress”?
Velingrad Township is part of the Pazardzhik constituency, where traditionally the first on the MRF candidate list is Delyan Peevski. However, Peevski’s influence in the region is weakening, as is that of the MRF. Some of the mayors who met Borissov over the weekend, incl. and Pashaliev, left the MRF. However, in the last local elections, they defeated their rivals from Dogan’s party. His transfer to the GERB is to the credit of the former Segundo – Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who is also active in the region, seeking support for his new party. It is no coincidence that after his dismissal last year. Coalition partner Valeri Simeonov saw the long arm of the MRF, due to the advance of GERB in the mixed regions.
However, in front of the Grashevo people, Borisov put Tsvetanov and Peevski under one denominator: “Who came? Tsvetanov and Peevski – and they did nothing! … Or maybe they did, it’s not visible!” . And it promised between 50 and 100 million levs for highways in the mountains. And on the Cross they told him: “Without resignation! The people are with you!”
The battle for the voices of the Pomak, as the Bulgarian Mohammedans prefer to call it, will not be easy. In the “Peevski Fortress” from election to election, votes for the MRF are declining. In the 2014 European elections, the MRF was the leading political force in the 13th district of Pazardzhik, with about a quarter of the votes. In the 2019 European elections, however, he was surpassed by GERB. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, the MRF ranks third after the GERB and the BSP with 16%. Three years later, in the 2017 elections, it is still in third place, but only by 12.6%.
“Once the hodges have said publicly that the MRF has done nothing for the region, it is a sign that their influence is waning,” said Salih Tronchov. Both GERB and Tsvetanova’s “Republicans for Bulgaria” will certainly fight for the niche that is being opened. “They speak very well about the yellow cobblestones, to come to this region and see what battle GERB and MRF are fighting, the mayors are only from these two parties,” Borissov urged from the jeep. But despite speaking of a “battle”, thanks to GERB, the MRF has become an inescapable factor in the Velingrad city hall.
Promises and tungsten
In Krastava, Borisov also promised that there will be no tungsten mine near the village and rumors that the road is being built for it are a lie. “We were the ones who stopped the mine. What mines, what tungsten. When someone says such nonsense, grab him by the ear,” he told Mayor Salih Uzunov.
Exactly three years ago in Velingrad, Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced that GERB would not allow the project to take place. An order from the Cuenca-Plovdiv Directorate was followed for the establishment of a sanitary protection zone, on the basis of which the intentions of the investor “Resource 1” of the KCM-Plovdiv group were rejected. With a decision of July this year Administrative Court – Plovdiv, declared the order null and void. The SAC must also govern, and protests in Velingrad against the concession granted at the end of the tripartite coalition government have resumed. Therefore, the prime minister can guarantee that there will be no extraction of tungsten only if he knows what the court decision will be.
In Sofia, Borissov cannot buy support with the promise of several kilometers of asphalt, but could cut the strip of the metro section from Krasno Selo to Gorna Banya, scheduled for the end of the year.
It may be the last tape he cut, if Tsvetanov is to be believed. A few days ago, he said: “There will be no next term with Prime Minister Borissov.”
Author: Emilia Milcheva
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