Sofia's mayor-elect Vassil Terziev: We will prove that besides winning elections, we can govern with dignity and transparency

"We Continue the Change" - "Democratic Bulgaria" gave a briefing on November 6.

Municipal election commission announces Vassil Terziev as the new mayor of Sofia

"Change is slow, but as of today it is an irreversible process. There is no mayor who can rely from today on feudal dependence. Evdry corner of Bulgaria will be guaranteed from now on. Thank you to the whole team", said Kiril Petkov, co-chair of "We Continue the Change".

Kiril Petkov thanked a girl from the WCC-DB headquarters admitted to hospital from exhaustion.

"A big thank you to each and every one of you who put their trust in us. Every one of you is a reason for us to be optimistic that better times are ahead for Sofia," said newly elected Mayor of Sofia, Vassil Terziev.

"We achieved a convincing representation among the mayors of districts in Sofia - 19 district mayors. We have a stable representation in the municipal council. We have as many as the second and third together as city councilors. We have yet to prove that in addition to winning elections, we can govern with dignity, transparency and motivation. Each of us takes this victory as an extremely big responsibility," Terziev stressed.

Images by Dessislava Kulelieva

"You will see how we run the city: without second-hand people and second-hand boroughs. We don't believe in the concept of 'little people'. We believe that Sofia will be a city of people who dream big and the city will give them the opportunity to fulfil them, this is what we will fight for. There is a lot of work to do, it will not be easy. We will be guided by several principles - the public interest should be above everything, we should involve citizens and businesses in decisions, there should be active communication with greater frequency so that every citizen knows what is happening," the new mayor of Sofia said.

"A political earthquake has happened in Bulgaria. After 18 years, the capital will be governed in a new, transparent, honest, motivated and ambitious way. This is a landslide victory over the previous model. The citizens of Sofia have entrusted our union with the huge responsibility to change Sofia over the next 4 years. We do not intend to divide Sofia", said Boris Bonev from "Save Sofia".

Bonev promised that there will be full synchronization between the mayor, the City Council and district mayors.

"The most important and difficult battle and victory was in Sofia," said Atanas Atanasov of Democratic Bulgaria.

In his words, distrust in institutions is one of the main reasons for the low turnout.

"One of the reasons is the scandal with the voting machines," Atanasov stressed.

He explained that those who created the machine voting scandal should be held accountable.

Democratic Bulgaria co-chairman, Hristo Ivanov, commented on the statement of GERB leader Boyko Borissov, who questioned the future of the government.

"We make our decisions with the common sense of the WCC-DB coalition and the fact that Bulgaria currently has a government and that we are not in the continuation of the parliamentary crisis, which until a few months ago seriously marked the development of our country, is a matter of reason and responsibility of our entire coalition. The question here is whether there is reason in this, because we can all use adjectives, we can all use accusations. The question is do we choose this regime? Or do we choose to continue to have this responsibility to the country. The results, in all their dimensions, show that this responsibility brings negatives and a price is being paid, and it is visible that colleagues from GERB are also paying. Mr Borissov's mode of speaking clearly shows this. The question is what is the alternative - to throw the country into a continuation of the parliamentary crisis - until when and for what? We will see what decision GERB will take. Do not expect us to start using the same tone of threatening, badgering and destabilising the country. Let it be clear that when there is an alternative and a responsible way to come to a better governance, we will do it decisively. For the moment, I don't see a responsible alternative that can be relied upon," said Hristo Ivanov.