How chat show host Trifonov lost Bulgaria’s election

SOFIA — Popstar and TV chat show host Slavi Trifonov lost Bulgaria’s election this week, a month after having won it.

In four weeks of acrimonious attempts to corral potential allies together into a majority following the vote on July 11, Trifonov couldn’t win round a growing legion of skeptics questioning his sincerity on tackling top-level corruption. 

This means the Balkan country now faces the prospect of its third general election since April. 

Trifonov’s anti-establishment party came first in July, but with only 24 percent of the vote, the six-and-a-half-foot crooner needed to woo allies for a stable government able to shape the nation’s politics in the wake of ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his GERB party. 

The singer’s maverick antics and questionable Cabinet picks, however, only inflamed suspicions about his foggy agenda among those whose support he needed most.

Most significantly, Trifonov’s party — “There is Such a Nation” (ITN) — failed to win the backing of the two relatively small anti-corruption parties most closely associated with major anti-mafia street protests last summer. 

In a sign of the barbed political debate, Trifonov accused these reformist parties of “treachery” after they repeatedly queried his credentials as a clean break from the rampant graft and cronyism in the EU’s poorest state. 

“We did everything in our power and all the compromises necessary to convince the so-called protest parties to support ITN’s government,” said Trifonov, who communicates almost entirely by video statements and Facebook posts. “The latter did not happen because of their treachery.”

Trouble from day one

Trifonov’s woes started just hours after the July vote. 

A day after the election, and even before formal results were released, Trifonov’s party announced his candidates for the Cabinet in a curveball move. Without seeking the premiership himself, Trifonov nominated Nikolay Vassilev — a politician with experience in two previous governments — as prime minister. 

Without any consultation or coalition talks, Trifonov appeared in a pre-recorded video statement aired on his own television station in which he presented a minority Cabinet made up mostly of political novices. He was taking a “take-it-or-leave-it” approach, without consulting potential allies.

If that weren’t enough to irritate such allies, his list of initial priorities included the surreal goal of sending a couple of Bulgarians and a Macedonian into space. This inspired a myriad of memes and jokes on social media. “Imagine a Bulgarian and a North Macedonian floating in space,” former Prime Minister Borissov scoffed. “That’s how Star Wars broke out.”

Daniel Smilov, a political analyst with the Sofia-based think tank Centre for Liberal Strategies, said ITN’s strategy of simply presenting a fait accompli and its reluctance to negotiate with other political players could only alienate potential partners. “At first they did not even initiate talks with the other parties,” he said. “No political player will agree to support a Cabinet in which they have no say whatsoever.”

The two anti-corruption parties, Democratic Bulgaria and “Rise Up, BG! We are Coming,” became increasingly wary of Trifonov’s intentions — particularly after he initiated talks with the country’s ethnic Turkish party, the Movement for Reform and Freedoms (MRF). The MRF is a red rag to anti-graft parties, as it is often seen as intimately tied to corruption and behind-the-scenes power plays.

Indeed, last summer’s anti-mafia protests specifically targeted political favors received by two high-profile MRF figures, Ahmed Dogan and Delyan Peevski. Trifonov was conspicuously silent during those demonstrations.

“We will not allow the long arm of GERB and the MRF to clout the future government,” said Maya Manolova, one of the leaders of Rise Up, BG! Striking a similar tone, Hristo Ivanov, one of the leaders of Democratic Bulgaria, called for candidates who “bring trust rather than raise questions.”

Trifonov vigorously defended Vassilev, his prime ministerial candidate, against suggestions that he was close to the parties of the old status quo, but eventually dropped him on July 15. Repeatedly denying any backroom deals with the MRF, Trifonov went on the offensive against Ivanov and Manolova, saying they were only withholding support in a cynical maneuver to win Cabinet positions. 

“Hristo Ivanov is deciding to rock the boat, threaten the [negotiation] progress so far, and push the country towards another election,” said Trifonov in a Facebook post. He added politics was a “dirty game” which “exists only because it is played by dirty people”. 

The entertainer was also pressured on his health. Speculation on its state has circulated for years, intensifying since he entered politics, and his prolonged silence triggered a new batch of tabloid assertions that he was gravely ill. Trifonov took to Facebook to respond with a famous misquote of American writer Mark Twain: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Failed candidates?

On July 30, Trifonov chose a second nominee for prime minister: Plamen Nikolov, who works as a manager in a company for swimming gear. 

Nikolov, one of ITN’s lawmakers in the current parliament, is virtually unknown to the public. He was one of the candidates in Trifonov’s reality-TV style contest for would-be politicians back in 2018, during which he stressed the need to reform and improve education in Bulgaria.

While betting mostly on inexperienced politicians could have played to the advantage of Trifonov’s ITN, some nominations landed the party in hot water again. ITN parliamentarian Momchil Ivanov was forced to drop his bid for justice minister after Bulgarian media published past social media posts which some interpreted as criticism towards ITN’s potential allies in the anti-corruption camp.

Interview from hell

Matters further soured on Monday when Petar Iliev, the party’s nomination for interior minister and deputy prime minister, talked to Nova TV in his first and only media appearance.

Iliev, a lecturer in law at Sofia University and honorary consul for Barbados in Bulgaria, has been a media bête noire following reports he allegedly plagiarized parts of his book on Bulgaria’s parliament and questions over his affiliation with Barbados, a holiday destination known for its soft tax regime. 

Iliev opted to address some of the controversies around his nomination in a confrontational manner, lambasting the media and “deep state” behind what he described as a personal attack. He denied any wrongdoing, bragged about his academic and career achievements and said he enjoyed Trifonov’s “full support.” In a trainwreck of an interview, Iliev gave evasive answers to many questions, argued that Barbados was not an offshore tax haven, said he stood “behind every word” in his book and advised the host to question his mother and grandmother on his integrity. 

Iliev’s interview triggered a wave of outrage among ITN’s potential coalition partners and political pundits alike. Social media outcry followed suit, condemning his tone. 

Smilov, the political analyst, argued the controversial Cabinet nominations discouraged many Bulgarians from giving ITN the benefit of the doubt as a political newcomer.  “Who would have thought that the government of change looks like that?” he said. “Cabinet nominations cast a shadow over the party’s vows and readiness to sweep up corrupt elites and bring change.”

The alienation game

Kornelia Ninova, head of the Socialist party — which came third in the vote — said she found the television interview “disturbing” and that her party would not support ITN’s government unless Iliev’s bid is dropped. “We would like to see the mandate-holder reconsider their nomination for interior minister,” she told reporters in Sofia earlier this week. 

Ivanov, Democratic Bulgaria’s leader, went even further in his criticism, describing the proposed government as “the weakest Bulgaria has seen.” 

Smilov said ITN’s blunders cost them dearly. “It has become increasingly clear that ITN did not intend to govern the country and cooperate with their potential allies, but rather trigger another election,” he said. “What is not clear is whether this was the plan all along or they just decided to play va banque.”

By the beginning of this week, all three potential allies — the Socialists, Democratic Bulgaria and Rise Up, BG! — declared they would not support ITN’s proposed Cabinet. 

Trifonov on Tuesday announced the withdrawal of his Cabinet. “That means we are heading to new elections,” he said in a video on Facebook. 

Shortly after Trifonov’s statement, Nikolov — the party candidate for prime minister — withdrew his nomination, citing “personal reasons.”

In a Facebook post, Nikolov blamed his potential coalition partners for the failure of the proposed Cabinet and predicted another round of “purging election fire.”