# 2023 Sofia mayoral election

The 2023 Sofia mayoral election was held on 29 October 2023, during the 2023 Bulgarian local elections, to elect the next mayor of Sofia.

## Background

For the past 14 years (since 2009), the mayor of Sofia has been Yordanka Fandakova, from the party GERB.
Fandakova served four terms, including three full terms, as mayor of Sofia, becoming the first woman to serve in the position and the longest serving mayor of Sofia.
During Fandakova's time in office, the public transportation system has been expanded, in particular with a number of projects aimed at expanding the Sofia metro. Additionally, Fandakova has taken credit for initiating the project "Green Sofia", which is supposed to support initiatives meant to make Sofia more environmentally friendly.
However, Fandakova's tenure as mayor has also come under scrutiny. Fandakova has been accused of allowing corruption in new construction projects. Specifically, critics of Fandakova have identified the construction of the new metro lines as a source of corruption, often leading to inefficient results.
Calls for Fandakova to resign increased in the period between 2018 and 2019, with her vice-mayor, Evgeni Krusev, resigning his position due to mismanagement of repairs in the Grafa Street district. However, Fandakova herself refused to resign, and sought a third term as Mayor in the 2019 Sofia Mayoral Elections. Fandakova faced a challenge in the 2019 elections, from BSP-supported independent, Maya Manolova, VMRO candidate Dzhambanski and leader of the civic organisation Spasi Sofia, Boris Bonev, as well as other candidates. According to some polls, Maya Manolova was even in the lead, ahead of the incumbent. Fandakova ended up narrowly defeating Manalova in the second round, although Manolova has claimed that election fraud took place, and called for a recount.

## Candidates

Every Bulgarian citizen older than 18 and who is registered in Sofia City is allowed to run for the position of mayor of Sofia.

### Announced and Registered

| Candidate name, age, political party | Political offices | Endorsing parties | Campaign announcement |
| Vasil Terziev (46) PP–DB | Entrepreneur, founder of the Software Company, Telerik | PP VOLT DB Yes, Bulgaria! DSB ZD Spasi Sofia Team for Sofia | 27 June 2023 |
| Deyan Nikolov (35) Revival | Member of Bulgarian National Assembly (2021–present) | Revival | 4 July 2023 |
| Vili Lilkov (69) Independent | Member of the 43d Bulgarian National Assembly from the Reformist Bloc | Coalition "Blue Sofia" Conservative Union of the Right (KOD) BZNS-Sofia Movement for Democratic Action NDSV Bulgarian Democratic Forum [bg] (BDF) Bulgarian New Democracy (BND) Union of Free Democrats (SSD) | 16 July 2023 |
| Vanya Grigorova (46) Independent | Economist advisor the chairman of the trade union "Podkrepa" | BSP for Bulgaria BSP Ecoglasnost Trakiya "Political Club" Levitsata! Movement 21 ABV Stand Up.BG Neutral Bulgaria Communist Party of Bulgaria BCP RVO New Force Alternative for Bulgarian Citizens Bulgarian Left Green Party of Bulgaria Unified Social Democratic Party Movement for Social Humanism ATAKA New Dawn European Security and Integration Union for the Fatherland Agrarian Union "Aleksandar Stamboliyski" Socialist Party "Bulgarian Way" | 25 August 2023 |
| Radostin Vasilev (40) Independent | Member of the Bulgarian National Assembly (2021-2024) | Strong Bulgaria | 5th September 2023 |
| Mariya Koleva (64) Pravoto | Leader of Pravoto (2019–present) | Pravoto | 6 September 2023 |
| Karlos Kontrera (38) VMRO | Member of the Sofia City Council (2015-present) | VMRO | 17th September 2023 |
| Alexander Tomov (70) BSDE | Member of the 7th Grand National Assembly (1990-1991) Member of the 38th and 40th National Assembly (1994-2001) Leader of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party "Euro-Left" (2003-) | BSDE | 17 September 2023 |
| Krasimir Stoychev (69) Independent | Owner of the mobile phone operator "Citron" (1992-1997) Consultant for the development of Green Energy in Bulgaria | Party of the Greens [bg] Civic Platform "Power to the People" | 20 September 2023 |
| Simeon Ananiev (69) Independent | Acting head of the "Bulgarian Railroad Association" (2006-2010) Chairman of the "Green Transport" Organization | Moralitiy, Initiative, Responsibility (MIR) [bg] | 19 September 2023 |
| Ivaylo Valchev (53) ITN | Member of the Bulgarian National Assembly (2022-present) | ITN | 21st September 2023 |
| Anton Hekimyan (40) Independent | Director of the BTV news and sports section (2020-2023) | GERB SDS | 21 September 2023 |
| Violeta Komitova (67) Bulgarian Rise | Minister of Regional Development in the First and Second Yanev Government (2021) Member of the 48th National Assembly (2022-2023) | Bulgarian Rise | 27 September 2023 |
| Svetoslav Vitkov (67) People's Voice | Lead vocalist of the Punk Rock group Hipodil (1990-1999) Leader of People's Voice (2013-) | People's Voice | 27 September 2023 |
| Asen Angelov (46) Independent | Acting Head of the Bulgarian Employment Agency (2005-2010) Administrative Secretary of the government owned "Agrarian Fund" (2013-2015) | SBOR [bg] | 28 September 2023 |
| Mazhd Algafari (57) Independent | Journalist | Coalition "Citizens for the Communities" Bulgarian Peasants-Workers Party Competency, Responsibility, Truth [bg] | 28 September 2023 |
| Petar Klisarov (57) Direct democracy | Leader of the party "Direct Democracy" (2014–) | Direct democracy | 28 September 2023 |
| Kamen Dyulgerov (46) Independent | Businessman | Bulgarian Voice | 28 September 2023 |
| Emil Atanasov BSD | Actor Founder and Chairman of the "Professional Syndicate of Bulgarian Actors" (2016-) | Bulgarian Social-Democrats | 28 September 2023 |
| Georgi Nedelchev BUDD | Leader of the party "Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy" (2015-) | Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy [bg] | 28 September 2023 |
| Kalin Krulev ONB | Former candidate for the party NFSB (2021) Lead candidate for ONB in Lovech and Sofia (2022-2023) | Society for a New Bulgaria [bg] | 28 September 2023 |
| Teodor Dechev (63) BSDP | Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the Kostov Government (1997-2001) Chief Editor of the newspaper "Svoboda" (2012-2013) | Bulgarian Social Democratic Party | 2 October 2023 |

### Registration denied

The following candidates were not registered as candidates for the Sofia Mayoral Election, despite announcing their intention to participate in it.
* Hristo Popov, anti-vaccine activist who announced his intention to participate in the Sofia Mayoral Elections as an independent candidate. Registration denied by the Oblast Electoral Commission (OEC).
* Atanas Stefanov, subdeacon, famous for his protest against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and removing the Ukrainian flag, who announced his intention to participate in the Sofia Mayoral Elections as an independent candidate. Registration denied by the Oblast Electoral Commission (OEC).

### Withdrawn

The following candidates withdrew from the race from the Sofia Mayoral Election before the registration date.
* Nikola Vaptsarov, announced his candidacy on 20 July, endorsed by Stand Up.BG, implicitly endorsed Vanya Grigorova and did not submit his candidacy.

### Declined

The following individuals were speculated to have been interested in running within the Sofia Mayoral election, but eventually decided not to run.

#### GERB

* Yordanka Fandakova, incumbent mayor from GERB since 2011.
* Rosen Zhelyazkov, incumbent Chairman of the 48th Bulgarian National Assembly.
* Georgi Georgiev, current chairman of the Sofia City Council. Was speculated to be the presumptive GERB nominee, however ended up endorsing Anton Hekimyan.
* Nikolai Gabrovski, neurosurgeon and PM candidate for GERB in 2022. Has been speculated as a potential nomination for GERB, but was not selected as the eventual GERB candidate

#### PP-DB

* Boris Bonev leader of the political party Spasi Sofia and member of the Sofia City Council. Endorsed Vasil Terziev.
* Lena Borislavova, speaker of former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.

#### BSPzB

* Ivan Takov, leader of the Sofia city branch of the BSP, nominated by local chapters of BSP-Sofia for mayor. Endorsed Vanya Grigorova.
* Maya Manolova, leader of the political party Stand Up.BG and BSP supported candidate in the 2019 Sofia Mayoral election. Declined to participate in the 2023 Sofia Mayoral Election and instead endorsed a "unity left candidate".

#### Other

* Ivan Shishkov, former Caretaker Minister of Regional Development in the Donev I & Donev II. Served as deputy minister of Regional Development in the Stefan Yanev caretaker cabinets. Professionally is an architect. Has expressed interest in running for Mayor of Sofia, however did not end up filing for registration.

## First Round Campaign
### Vasil Terziev campaign

Vasil Terziev was announced as the joint candidate of PPDB, Spasi Sofia and Team for Sofia on 27 June 2023.

### Other candidates campaign

The candidate of the party "SBOR", Asen Angelov, gained some notoriety due to his campaigns use of unconventional campaign strategies: such as internet memes or the use of door-to-door campaigning rather than mass rallies. The campaign similarly gained some attention due to its intense spending on advertisements (potentially up to 130,000 Leva), while still receiving a rather disappointing result.

## Opinion polls

| Fieldwork date | Polling firm | Terziev | Hekimyan | Nikolov | Grigorova | Lilkov | Valchev | Vaptsarov | Komitova | Kontrera | Undecided | Lead |
| 21–24 Oct 2023 | Alpha Research | 29.8% | 21.1% | 10.2% | 20.2% | 8.3% | 3.4% | N/A | 1.9% | 0.6% | 4.5% | 8.7% |
| 16–20 Oct 2023 | SovaHarris | 32.9% | 22.9% | 13.1% | 20.8% | 4.0% | 3.2% | N/A | 1.7% | 1.8 | 1.7% | 10.0% |
| 10–17 Oct 2023 | Mediana | 24.8% | 21.4% | 13.4% | 22.2% | 7.2% | 5.4% | N/A | 1.8 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 2.6% |
| 29 Sept–9 Oct 2023 | ESTAT | 27.8% | 18.7% | 4.7% | 20.6% | 6.4% | 2.4% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 7.2% |
| 21- 25 July 2023 | Center for Analysis and Marketing | 33.4% | 22.7% | 12% | 10.6% | 4.8% | N/A | 0.8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 10.7% |

## Results

| Candidate | Party | 1st Round | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 2nd Round |
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| Vasil Terziev | PP-DB | 119,121 | 31.80 | 175,044 | 48.20 |
| Vanya Grigorova | BSPzB | 80,875 | 21.59 | 170,258 | 46.89 |
| Anton Hekimyan | GERB-SDS | 66,792 | 17.83 | | |
| Deyan Nikolov | Revival | 29,052 | 7.76 | | |
| Vili Lilkov | Blue Sofia | 21,356 | 5.69 | | |
| Ivaylo Valchev | ITN | 11,861 | 3.17 | | |
| Radostin Vasilev | Independent | 9,450 | 2.52 | | |
| Violeta Komitova | BV | 4,333 | 1.16 | | |
| Karlos Kontrera | VMRO | 3,462 | 0.92 | | |
| Svetoslav Vitkov | GN | 2,335 | 0.62 | | |
| Asen Angelov | SBOR | 2,320 | 0.62 | | |
| Petar Klisarov | DD | 1,850 | 0.49 | | |
| Teodor Dechev | BSDP | 1,682 | 0.45 | | |
| Krasimir Stoychev | Zelenite | 1,581 | 0.42 | | |
| Mazhd Algafari | CfC | 776 | 0.21 | | |
| Mariya Koleva | Pravoto | 642 | 0.17 | | |
| Alexander Tomov | BSDE | 638 | 0.17 | | |
| Kamen Dyulgerov | BG | 580 | 0.15 | | |
| Yemil Atanasov | BSD | 563 | 0.15 | | |
| Simeon Ananiev | MIR | 452 | 0.12 | | |
| Georgi Nedelchev | BUDD | 417 | 0.11 | | |
| Kalin Krulev | ONB | 412 | 0.11 | | |