Communist-Era Agents Still a Political Presence in Bulgaria

That dozens of former agents and collaborators are running for Bulgaria's national assembly is symbolic of a lustration process that was never more than piecemeal, and raises fresh questions about the scruples of opportunistic politicians who were once diehard communists only to now be running for office on behalf of parties from across the political spectrum, including the far-right.

Fifteen of the 87 feature on the MP candidate list of the main opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, which is polling second ahead of the election, while there are representatives too in all of the far-right nationalist parties contesting the vote.

Running for the first time, the opposition alliance Democratic Bulgaria is one of the few parties that do not feature a onetime agent or collaborator of State Security, though the affiliated Greens boast a former informant.

"The political influence that former State Security agents have built in Bulgaria from the early 90s to the present day is always connected to power and money," said Hristo Hristov, a journalist and writer who has written extensively about Communist-era repression and the activities of State Security.

"That has always been the main motive," he told BIRN. "This also explains why there are such figures even in newly formed parties like 'Stand up.BG' and 'There's a Nation.' 

Repression at home, assassination abroad

A man with a bicycle passes in front of campaign posters of Bulgaria's centre-right ruling GERB party with pictures of Bulgarian Prime minister Boyko Borissov in Bankaj, Bulgaria, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

For decades, Bulgaria's State Security was responsible for much of the dirty work of the Communist authorities - repression, torture,...