Boyko Borisov

Boyko Metodiev Borisov 60th Mayor of Sofia In office November 8, 2005 – Present Preceded by Stefan Sofiyanski Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior In office 2001–2005 Personal details Born (1959-06-15) June 15, 1959 Bankya, Bulgaria Political party GERB Occupation Firefighter, Politician, Professor Boyko Metodiev Borisov (Bulgarian: Бойко Методиев Борисов) (born June 13, 1959) is the current mayor of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. He has been holding the post since November 8, 2005. Borisov was born in Bankya. Between 1982 and 1990, he assumed different positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a firefighter and later as a professor at the Police Academy in Sofia. He quit the Ministry in 1990 when members of the Bulgarian Communist Party were asked to leave if they are to keep their membership in the party. In 1991 he founded a private security company, Ipon-1, and later guarded personalities like Todor Zhivkov and Simeon II. Borisov has been actively engaged in karate since 1980, serving as the coach of the Bulgarian national team and a referee of international matches. In his business career, Borisov has formed limited liability companies with emblematic people of the underground world, like Mladen Mihalev (a.k.a. Madzho), Rumen Nikolov (a.k.a. Pashata), and others. Boyko Borisov was the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior between 2001 and 2005, with rank general. In the 2005 parliamentary elections he was candidate for member of the Parliament by the "National Movement Simeon II", and was elected from two regions but decided to keep his job as Chief Secretary of the Ministry. Later that year he resigned from it, and instead participated in the elections for mayor of Sofia, where he replaced Stefan Sofiyanski, who chose to become MP. Borisov founded a new political party, GERB in 2006 (in English Coat of Arms, while also being an acronym). GERB won the first in Bulgaria European Parliament elections on 20 May 2007, despite very low poll attendance (~10%) and that prompted Borisov to voice his will for early parliamentary elections. Borisov is not the actual leader of GERB, but is considered as an "informal leader", while the formal one is Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who served under Borisov at the Ministry of Interior, and later as a vice-mayor of Sofia. Borisov is not married, and lives with Tsvetelina Borislavova, head of the Economic and Investment Bank External links CityMayors profile Jeff Stein, Bush’s Bulgarian Partner in the Terror War Has Mob History, Investigators Say, Congressional Quarterly, March 2, 2007 Notes