presidential election

The article tracks all aspects of the presidential candidacy of Roumen Radev: the process of his nomination, campaign and performance. Subject of detailed analysis is the campaign of the candidate in its various aspects - organization, party support, financing, direct campaign, media appearances, participation in election debates. The author presents a picture of his convincing victory in the presidential elections in Bulgaria in 2016. On the background of broader economic, social, political, cultural context during the campaign and election are shown the internal factors that led to this result – the effective support by the party BSP, the personal and political qualities of the candidate, the campaign performance.

The article focuses on three dimensions of the issues related to the rule of law and the judicial system reform in the context of the presidential elections in Bulgaria in 2016: the formulation of a clear vision for future development of the judicial reform and strengthening of the rule of law in the candidate’s manifestos, the level of participation of candidates in the political and civic debate on the issues and the type of commitments expressed during the campaign. Thus the article aims to formulate a typology of campaign related positions on the basis of two dimensions – political profile of candidate and their distance to bringing the issues as priorities of the presidential institution.