As the head of the news, I have not taken into account anyone, assured the GERB candidate, who will work for the people “on the other side”
Journalist Anton Hekimyan received a nomination from the GERB structures and a personal invitation from the party’s leader Boyko Borisov to be their candidate for mayor of Sofia last week. He confirmed this himself when he appeared on Monday together with the deputy head of the party Tomislav Donchev, the until recently head of the Metropolitan Municipal Council Georgi Georgiev and party members to register the GERB list for the vote.
The journalist surprisingly left BBC on Saturday after 19 years working there. Even then, “24 Chasa” wrote that he was Borisov’s likely candidate. Hekimyan
entered the GERB list a month ago
And he quickly moved forward because he is recognizable and liked – a personality that GERB can quickly impose in the short time until the October 29 vote. And Borisov only hinted that there is a “non-standard solution”.
“Everything happened last week. I had a meeting with Mr. Borisov and personally received the invitation from him to be the candidate of GERB. I asked for time to think,” Hekimyan said on Monday. He assured that he made the choice “fully aware” and “personally”. And in addition, he received the assurance that in his work he will be able to make the decisions himself.
“My vision for Sofia is for our capital to be an even more modern and green city, to be open to investments, to young people, but
emphasis will be on education,
because it will bring even more potential and personnel to the city and develop it. Of course, we will not forget the big infrastructure projects”, pointed out Hekimyan.
“I can’t help but admit that I’ve been thinking about where to go from here, what will be my development after journalism or this post. Having received the offer to be a candidate for GERB, I realized that I want to work for society, I have done it all this time and I think that I can continue to do it simply from the other side”, he also said.
And when asked if he subordinated the work of BTV to party interests, he replied: “Throughout my journey, I have firmly stood behind the principles of journalism. I have not taken into consideration anyone, because every consideration is later written on your forehead”.
The media also released their position after his candidacy became known. “Immediately after the request was made, bTV accepted Mr. Hekimyan’s resignation, immediately restricted his access to the bTV newsroom and all company resources, and we quickly informed the general public of his departure. While we have full confidence in the editorial team’s quality, talent and commitment to news objectivity,
bTV Media Group introduces measures,
which he plans to implement during the election season in order to protect the name and reputation of bTV as one of the most objective and reliable media in Bulgaria.”
Hekimyan will also lead the list of GERB for municipal councilors. In total, there are 61 people in it. The second will be the until recently head of SOS Georgi Georgiev, a
third – the majority owner of Telelink Group Lyubomir Minchev
– a businessman close to the profile of PP-DB candidate Vasil Terziev.
Fourth is the deputy mayor for culture of Sofia Miroslav Borshosh, fifth – the long-time municipal councilor from GERB Tatiana Georgieva.
Georgiev and Borshosh were also seen as potential mayoral candidates for Sofia.
“We decided that the pre-election race in Sofia should escape from the framework of traditional political opposition and broadcast a candidate in whom the citizens would recognize themselves, to give Sofia a chance to have the most civic candidate possible”, explained the choice of Hekimyan Tomislav Donchev. He did not notice Hekimyan’s special attitude towards GERB footage when he was a presenter on bTV.
“What’s more – many of the colleagues considered that he was even very critical and sharp. That’s the power. As soon as you can gather strength and self-confidence and broadcast a candidate who until yesterday criticized you, it means that we have made the best decision”, added Donchev.
“I wish success to the candidate for mayor of Sofia of GERB-SDS, to the list and to the candidates for regional mayors. There is
a strong team that I hope will continue the work for Sofia,
YORDANKA FANDAKOVA
to continue the change of the city and bring new enthusiasm”, said the mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova.
Vasil Terziev: Journalists’ attempts to enter politics do not end well
VASIL TERZIEV
According to Ninova, the leader of GERB sold Sofia, “Vazrazhdane” already saw each other in the runoff
“Journalists’ attempts to enter politics – I won’t name names – have not gone well.” His biggest opponent, Vasil Terziev from PP-DB, commented on this after it became known that Anton Hekimyan is the candidate of GERB for Sofia. “I find the application a bit strange. It is contrary to what both Borisov and Georgiev (until recently the head of SOS Georgi Georgiev – b.r.) said in recent weeks. When he commented on my candidacy, Georgiev said: “Sofia is not a training car”, but they are betting on a person who, literally a week before the campaign, decides to deal with the problems of Sofia”, said Terziev to “Nova News”. According to him, in order for a society to work well, there must be a “Chinese wall between the media and politics”.
“I surpass Hekimyan with significantly more management experience
and with significantly more preparation for the specific task. With a very strong team, not individual people gathered in one sheet”, he also said.
“Borisov used to call journalists turkeys. Apparently, there is also a misir”, Slavi Trifonov, the leader of “There is such a people”, responded on Facebook. His party nominated screenwriter Ivaylo Valchev for mayor of Sofia. Hekimyan meets the conditions of the law. But does it meet the conditions of morality? Let’s assume that Borisov proposed to him the other day, yesterday he resigned as head of news at BTV and today he is running for mayor of GERB. All this is unlikely”, added Trifonov.
“Was Hekimyan a personal mole of Borisov in BTV”,
the chairman of the BSP, Cornelia Ninova, jumped in. The Socialists broadcast about the trade unionist candidate Vanya Grigorova. But Ninova suspects there is a pre-arrangement on who wins the election now. And he turned to the leader of GERB, Boyko Borisov, with the question: “Has Sofia also shopped?” Has he sold Sofia with this candidacy for someone else to win against the commitment not to undermine Fandakova, Orlin Alexiev and the entire corruption scheme in the municipality for years”.
“Vazrazhdane” will go directly to a runoff, party leader Kostadin Kostadinov predicted after hearing the news about Hekimyan. However, he did not indicate who his candidate Deyan Nikolov will face, since for him all the others were “the same”.
“Mocking GERB voters. Hekimyan’s candidacy raises questions about freedom of speech in Bulgaria during Borisov’s three cabinets. And until now. And about the sale of Sofia with buyer PP-DB”, commented the former chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev on the “X” platform.
