Democratic Bulgaria


Democratic Bulgaria is an electoral alliance in Bulgaria formed by three political partiesYes, Bulgaria!, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria and The Greens. The union was created on 12 April 2018.

History

The creation of Democratic Bulgaria was officially announced through the symbollic signing of a declaration, entitled "Democratic Bulgaria can do more". The three parties united after several months of talks of cooperation on the next general election. In its manifesto, the union sets out its main goals, among which are to be an alternative to the current government and to consolidate Bulgaria's democratic values and Euro-Atlantic choices.

Structure

The union of Democratic Bulgaria has two co-leaders – Hristo Ivanov of Yes, Bulgaria! and Atanas Atanasov of Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria. The leaders of the Greens – Vladislav Panev and Borislav Sandov also participate in the union's council.

Political positions

Finance

Some of the priorities of the union is the membership of Bulgaria in the Eurozone and the Banking union, the reduction of budget spending to 1/3 of the GDP, and taxation reform – reduction of VAT from 20% to 18%; non-taxable minimum of the income tax

Defense

In the sphere of defense, the party seeks public support of the Armed Forces using the Social contract of defensive politics.

Participation in elections

Democratic Bulgaria won one seat in the 2019 European Parliament election.
In order to select its candidates, Yes, Bulgaria! conducted a remote election. Those willing to vote could do it digitally using the mobile app of Yes, Bulgaria! or by mail. In the preliminary election all members of Yes, Bulgaria! had the right to vote, and also everyone who received an invitation from a member of the party. The electoral process started on 27 November 2018, and the results were declared on 11 February 2019. 5898 people voted, and the candidate with the most votes was Stefan Tafrov, who is a diplomat.
The candidate of Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria for the European elections Svetoslav Malinov was raised as a candidate through a resolution, during the National Congress of DSB on 12 November 2018. Malinov has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2009 as a member of the European People's Party.
On the 22nd of February 2019, the Greens announced its primary candidate for the elections – Albena Simeonova – an environmentalist and an entrepreneur in the sphere of bio agriculture. She was elected through an online vote on the website of the party.
In the end, Radan Kanev won the party's seat in the EP.
On 27 October 2019 a Bulgarian local elections were held. Democratic Bulgaria didn't win a single mayoral election, but won a variety of city districts, most of them in Sofia. The districts are "Lozenets", "Oborishte", "Krasno selo", "Slatina", "Ovcha kupel", "Triaditsa", "Sredets" and "Studentski".