Almost all political parties in Bulgaria’s March elections have candidates who worked for communist-era secret services
An announcement by Bulgaria’s Dossier Commission on March 9 showed that almost all parties and coalitions in the country’s early parliamentary elections have candidate MPs who worked for the communist-era secret service State Security.
The commission’s check of 4060 individuals found State Security people in the candidate lists of Kornelia Ninova’s Bulgarian Socialist Party, Boiko Borissov’s GERB, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Lyutvi Mestan’s DOST, Velizar Enchev’s Movement for Radical Change – Bulgarian Spring, the socialist ABC-Movement 21 coalition, the nationalist United Patriots, the WHO coalition, Vesselin Mareshki’s Volya, the Coalition of the Dissatisfied, the Reformist Bloc-Glas Naroden coalition, Radan Kanev’s New Republic coalition and Hristo Ivanov’s Yes Bulgaria coalition.
In all, 81 of the candidate MPs in the March 26 2017 elections had worked for State Security.
Some of the names have been announced before, as a result of checks by the Dossier Commission during previous elections. These include, for example, Mestan and Enchev, United Patriots co-leader Krassimir Karakachanov, the BSP’s Tasko Ermenkov, Roumen Gechev and Hristo Monov. The same applies to GERB candidate and former constitutional judge Georgi Markov.
New Republic coalition leader Kanev excluded Mincho Minchev, a candidate in Turgovishte, after the commission disclosed that Minchev had worked for State Security.
The Reformist Bloc – Glas Naroden list included the names of Svetoslav Zhelyazkov (a candidate in Plovdiv) and Simeon Todorov (a candidate in Razgrad).
The Yes Bulgaria list included Nikolai Vlaesko in Rousse and Ivan Ivanov in Blagoevgrad. In the early evening of March 9, Yes Bulgaria announced that it had expelled both from its list.
Of the list, the Bulgarian Socialist Party has the most – 16, followed by the MRF (nine), Enchev’s party (eight) the United Patriots (seven), DOST five and GERB five, ABC -Movement 21 four, the Coalition of the Dissatisfied four and Volya, two.
The list is (with the name of the political party or coalition in brackets):
Alexander Blagoev, State Security codename Tenev (WHO – Bulgarian Left and Green Party coalition).
Alexander Iliev, State Security Agent Viktor (BSP for Bulgaria).
Alexander Tsaridgradski, Agent Stancho (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring).
Assen Metodiev, code name Metodi (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Bozhidar Kostadinov, Agent Kaloyan (United Patriots).
Borko Isakov, Agent Dimitrov (BSP for Bulgaria).
Valentin Hristov, Agent Pliska (Bulgarian National Unity).
Valeri Savov, Agent Tsvetkov (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Vanya Perpelieva, Agent Tanya (Bulgarian National Unity).
Velizar Enchev, State Security staff member (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring).
Vesselin Velchevski, staff member (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring).
Vesselin Velikov, staff member (Volya).
Vladimir Todorov, Agent Tonev (United Patriots).
Vladimir Gurbelov, code name Pliska (United Patriots).
Georgi Furnadzhiev, Agent Lozanov (Coalition of the Dissatisfied).
Georgi Markov, Agent Nikolai and Agent Stefan (GERB).
Georgi Georgiev, Agent Morozov (ABC – Movement 21 coalition).
Daud Ibryam, Agent Iskrenov (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Dencho Balev, staff member (United Patriots).
Dencho Boyadzhiev, codename Orbita (BSP for Bulgaria).
Dimitar Stoyanov, staff member (BSP for Bulgaria).
Dobromir Zadgorski, Agent Roman (BSP for Bulgaria).
Dora Mutafova, Agent Dorotea (DOST).
Elisabeta Nikolova, Agent Petrova (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring).
Emil Georgiev, Agent Stanislav (BSP for Bulgaria).
Erman Zankov, Agent Bogdanov (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Eftim Vulchev, staff member codenamed Bonek (Reformist Bloc – Glas Naroden).
George Ganchev, collaborator codenamed George (Coalition of the Dissatisfied).
Zlatko Zdravkov, Agent Plamen (independent candidate in Lovech).
Ivailo Kamenov, Agent Orhan (DOST).
Ivan Angelov Ivanov, Agent Ognyan (Yes Bulgaria)
Ivan Bachev, staff member (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring).
Ivan Prodanov, codename Roza (Greens party).
Ivan Turpomanov, codename Kula (BSP for Bulgaria).
Ismail Hasanov, Agent Iliya (DOST).
Katya Moneva, staff member (WHO – Bulgarian Left and Green Party).
Krassimir Karakachanov, Agent Ivan (United Patriots).
Krassimir Gurdev, Agent Detelin (GERB).
Lyutvi Mestan, Agent Pavel (DOST).
Maxim Velkov, staff member (WHO – Bulgarian Left and Green Party).
Marin Cherkezov, staff member (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring)
Mincho Minchev, Agent Totev (New Republic coalition).
Naiden Manov, Agent Vladimir (GERB).
Neycho Neychev, staff member (WHO – Bulgarian Left and Green Party).
Nikola Vuchev, Agent Stoyan (Coalition of the Dissatisfied).
Nikolai Vlaesko, Agent Minev (Yes Bulgaria).
Nikolai Atanassov, staff member (GERB).
Ognyan Ivanov, Agent Zdravko (BSP for Bulgaria).
Pavel Paunov, staff member (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring).
Pavlina Popova, codename Serdika (ABC – Movement 21).
Plamen Markov, Agent Yakimov (ABC – Movement 21).
Plamen Ferdov, staff member (BSP for Bulgaria).
Prodan Prodanov, staff member (Coalition of the Dissatisfied).
Radko Radev, Agent Dimitrov (United Patriots).
Ramadan Atalay, Agent Vergil (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Rossen Malinov, codename Lyulyak (BSP for Bulgaria).
Roumen Gechev, secret collaborator codenamed Ekonomov (BSP for Bulgaria).
Roumen Rachev, Agent Orfey (ABC – Movement 21).
Sabri Ibraimov, Agent Bilyant, Agent Radi (DOST).
Svetoslav Zhelyazkov, Agent Zhekov (Reformist Bloc – Glas Naroden).
Simeon Todorov, scout codenamed Ivanov (Reformist Bloc – Glas Naroden).
Slavi Netsov, codenamed Lada (Volya).
Slavcho Velkov, Agent Peev (BSP for Bulgaria).
Spas Blagov, staff member (Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring).
Stanislav Stanilov, Agent Svetlin (United Patriots).
Stefan Dedev, staff member (GERB).
Stoyan Stoyanov, codename Yordan (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Stoyan Dimitrov, Agent Velichkov (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Stoyan Stoyanov, codename Vladimirov (National Republican Party).
Stoyanka Bakopulu, Agent Elizabet (WHO – Bulgarian Left and Green Party).
Tasko Ermenkov, staff member, military intelligence (BSP for Bulgaria).
Toma Tomov, Agent Todorov (BSP for Bulgaria).
Fevzi Saliev, Agent Orlin (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
Hristo Dunchev, staff member (Greens party).
Hristo Monov, Agent Gogov (BSP for Bulgaria).
Tsvetan Ralchovski, codename Dvoretsa (BSP for Bulgaria).
Tsvetanka Borissova Koeva, Agent Dessislava (Bulgarian National Unity).
Yanko Yankov, part-time employee (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
/Politics
