Rumen Hristov is the new president of the UDF (OBZOR)

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Sofia. On its highest forum, the UDF chose Rumen Hristov as party chairman. The 23rd Extraordinary National Conference on the Election Report voted 719 delegates. Rumen Hristov received 369 votes and Dr. Anton Koychev – 322. The new leader of the UDF was elected by secret ballot and voting and counting of votes lasted more than 4 hours. For the vice-presidents of the blue party, the delegates chose Theodor Petkov, Emil Kabaivanov, Mariana Lazarova and Kostadin Markov. The vote was reached after Bozhidar Lukarski announced on May 12 that he would not represent a new term as the leader of the UDF. He believes the party should have a conservative-patriotic profile and talk about a coalition with the NFSA. This view of the party sparked criticism in the party. At the April 17 meeting, there was also physical violence between the two UDF camps. Bozhidar Lukarsky was elected president on July 6, 2013. He has been president of the UDF for more than 5 years. Lukarsky will remain in history as the second oldest president of the UDF after Ivan Kostov. Before knowing who will lead the UDF, the current leader, Bozhidar Lukarski, reported on his mandate. "As president, I tried to lead the party for real purposes," he said, recalling that part of the UDF had decided that it was an obstacle for the party. According to him, the UDF should go in a conservative-patriotic direction, and a coalition with the ORD and "Yes, Bulgaria" is not acceptable.
Rumen Hristov said that as president, he wants to bring the UDF back to its roots as the emblem of democracy in Bulgaria. In his words, the blue party made a lot of mistakes, especially because of the strong leadership of the ego. According to him, the UDF has three options for coalitions – a conceptual coalition with a similar party, a conjuncture to gather votes to join the parliament, and an antistatted coalition. Rumen Hristov announced that he would work on the consolidation of the UDF and that there would be no "witch hunt". "There will be no division, because in recent years, the UDF is very thin," he said. In the fall, there will be a conference at which the UDF will determine its conceptual positioning and discuss preparations for local and European elections
Biliana IVANOVA

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