Bulgarian Greens’ Leader Launches New Right-Wing Party “Acceleration”

A fresh political party, “Uskorenie” (Acceleration), is being formed in Bulgaria by Vladislav Panev, former co-chair of the Green Movement and a former member of the Democratic Bulgaria (DB) leadership council. Current caretaker Energy Minister Traycho Traykov is similarly a co-founder, according to reporting from Club “Z” on Saturday.

“Uskorenie” builds on an ideological club of the same name established by Panev nearly two years ago, with its founding assembly held on March 7th. Traykov, currently serving as minister, was listed on the initiative committee but did not attend the assembly due to his ministerial duties. Panev was elected chairman at the meeting.

Panev, a former DB Member of Parliament (2021-2022), was recently nominated as a candidate for the April 19th parliamentary elections on the PP-DB coalition ticket. He appears on the ballot in two constituencies: second in Haskovo and fourth in Plovdiv-city.

“Uskorenie” will position itself on the right of the political spectrum,” Panev told Club “Z”. “I believe that politics in Bulgaria is moving in a very populist direction, and therefore there is a necessitate for more strength in the right-wing space. We are currently cooperating with DSB – that will be the case in these elections – ‘Unity is strength.’”

The party also includes another candidate for PP-DB in the upcoming elections. Ilina Mutafchieva heads the list in Targovishte. Like Panev, she is a former MP, also from the Green Movement, which split from PP-DB in 2024.

As of Saturday, the documents for “Uskorenie” have not yet been submitted for judicial registration. Prior to registration, Bulgarian law requires the collection of signatures from at least 2,500 party members.

“The party is currently on ‘standby’ because the main goal is the good performance of the PP-DB coalition in the parliamentary elections,” Panev explained. “After that, we will think about ‘Uskorenie.’” He added that the party includes representatives from various ethnic groups, as well as Bulgarians from the Western Outlands.