The today?s issue of the Maritsa Newspaper presents the eleven candidates that will compete in the local elections for a mayor of Plovdiv. They are:
1. Dr Ivan Chomakov ? Union of the Democratic Forces candidate
2. Zachary Georgiev ? Bulgarian Socialist Party candidate
3. Nina Radeva ? National Movement Simeon the Second candidate
4. Slavcho Atanassov ? VMRO candidate
5. Emil Zhechev ? VMRO-BND candidate
6. Nikolay Kouzov ? The Small and Family Business Party candidate
7. Krassimir Kafaliev ? The Constitutional Union candidate
8. Spas Gurnevski ? independent candidate
9. Chavdar Tenev - independent candidate
10. Dimitar Pampoulov - independent candidate
11. Mladen Mladenov - independent candidate
The newspaper also points the fact that one of the candidates, Mr. Slavcho Atanassov, is flying to Boston on Saturday, to read a lecture at one of the most prestigious US universities ? Harvard. That university is part of the so-called High Schools Ivy League. Mr.Atanassov?s lecture will be on the following topic: ?Local self-government in Eastern Europe in the transition period conditions?, and is scheduled for September 15th. The candidate will be accompanied by the VMRO regional director, Mr. Ilko Spassov. They will give the national Bulgarian flag as a special gift to Harvard University, and brochures and media kits of various leading companies and universities ? to the business representatives and the university staff. After receiving the personal invitation from the Harvard management, Mr.Atanassov?s wish was to read the lecture in Bulgarian, since he is the candidate of a patriotic party. That would not be a problem for the US students, having in mind that Bulgarian students at Harvard constitute the second largest foreign community there.