2023 Sofia mayoral election

The 2023 Sofia mayoral election was held on 29 October 2023, during the 2023 Bulgarian local elections, to elect the next mayor of Sofia.

Background
For the past 14 years (since 2009), the mayor of Sofia has been Yordanka Fandakova, from the party GERB.

Fandakova served four terms, including three full terms, as mayor of Sofia, becoming the first woman to serve in the position and the longest serving mayor of Sofia.

During Fandakova's time in office, the public transportation system has been expanded, in particular with a number of projects aimed at expanding the Sofia metro. Additionally, Fandakova has taken credit for initiating the project "Green Sofia", which is supposed to support initiatives meant to make Sofia more environmentally friendly.

However, Fandakova's tenure as mayor has also come under scrutiny. Fandakova has been accused of allowing corruption in new construction projects. Specifically, critics of Fandakova have identified the construction of the new metro lines as a source of corruption, often leading to inefficient results.

Calls for Fandakova to resign increased in the period between 2018 and 2019, with her vice-mayor, Evgeni Krusev, resigning his position due to mismanagement of repairs in the "Grafa" district. However, Fandakova herself refused to resign, and sought a third term as Mayor in the 2019 Sofia Mayoral Elections. Fandakova faced a challenge in the 2019 elections, from BSP-supported independent, Maya Manolova, VMRO candidate Dzhambanski and leader of the civic organisation Spasi Sofia, Boris Bonev, as well as other candidates. According to some polls, Maya Manolova was even in the lead, ahead of the incumbent. Fandakova ended up narrowly defeating Manalova in the second round, although Manolova has claimed that election fraud took place, and called for a recount.

Candidates
Every Bulgarian citizen older than 18 and who is registered in Sofia City is allowed to run for the position of mayor of Sofia.

Registration denied
The following candidates were not registered as candidates for the Sofia Mayoral Election, despite announcing their intention to participate in it.


 * Hristo Popov, anti-vaccine activist who announced his intention to participate in the Sofia Mayoral Elections as an independent candidate. Registration denied by the Oblast Electoral Commission (OEC).
 * Atanas Stefanov, subdeacon, famous for his protest against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and removing the Ukrainian flag, who announced his intention to participate in the Sofia Mayoral Elections as an independent candidate. Registration denied by the Oblast Electoral Commission (OEC).

Withdrawn
The following candidates withdrew from the race from the Sofia Mayoral Election before the registration date.


 * Nikola Vaptsarov, announced his candidacy on 20 July, endorsed by Stand Up.BG, implicitly endorsed Vanya Grigorova and did not submit his candidacy.

Declined
The following individuals were speculated to have been interested in running within the Sofia Mayoral election, but eventually decided not to run.

GERB

 * Yordanka Fandakova, incumbent mayor from GERB since 2011.
 * Rosen Zhelyazkov, incumbent Chairman of the 48th Bulgarian National Assembly.
 * Georgi Georgiev, current chairman of the Sofia City Council. Was speculated to be the presumptive GERB nominee, however ended up endorsing Anton Hekimyan.
 * Nikolai Gabrovski, neurosurgeon and PM candidate for GERB in 2022. Has been speculated as a potential nomination for GERB, but was not selected as the eventual GERB candidate

PP-DB

 * Boris Bonev leader of the political party Spasi Sofia and member of the Sofia City Council. Endorsed Vasil Terziev.
 * Lena Borislavova, speaker of former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.

BSPzB

 * Ivan Takov, leader of the Sofia city branch of the BSP, nominated by local chapters of BSP-Sofia for mayor. Endorsed Vanya Grigorova.
 * Maya Manolova, leader of the political party Stand Up.BG and BSP supported candidate in the 2019 Sofia Mayoral election. Declined to participate in the 2023 Sofia Mayoral Election and instead endorsed a "unity left candidate".

Other

 * Ivan Shishkov, former Caretaker Minister of Regional Development in the Donev I & Donev II. Served as deputy minister of Regional Development in the Stefan Yanev caretaker cabinets. Professionally is an architect. Has expressed interest in running for Mayor of Sofia, however did not end up filing for registration.

Vasil Terziev campaign
Vasil Terziev was announced as the joint candidate of PPDB, Spasi Sofia and Team for Sofia on 27 June 2023.

Other candidates campaign
The candidate of the party "SBOR", Asen Angelov, gained some notoriety due to his campaigns use of unconventional campaign strategies: such as internet memes or the use of door-to-door campaigning rather than mass rallies. The campaign similarly gained some attention due to its intense spending on advertisements (potentially up to 130,000 Leva), while still receiving a rather disappointing result.