Volen Siderov
Encyclopedia
Volen Nikolov Siderov (born 19 April 1956) is a Bulgaria
n politician and chairman of the nationalist party Attack
. He is famous for his hard-line attitude towards minorities in Bulgaria, especially Roma and Turk
s.
, Bulgaria
. He received an undergraduate degree in Applied Photography in Sofia
, and before the fall of Communism
in 1989, worked at the National Literature Museum as a photographer.
After the fall of Communism, Siderov became a member of the newly-established Movement for Human Rights. During the fall of 1990, he became the editor-in-chief of Democracy , the official newspaper of the Union of Democratic Forces
(Siderov played a major role in establishing the paper as the official publication of the right-wing party).
In 1992, he was fired from the newspaper and put an end to all relationships with his political partners. In 1995 Siderov led the PR Center of the Bulgarian Socialist Party
during local elections in capital Sofia. Later he unsuccessfully tried to get a place in the lists for MP in the ex-king Simeon II's party NDSV. At one point he was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of Monitor, a newspaper of a political orientation that could be described as nationalist and conservative
. In 2000, Siderov was presented with the award of the Union of the Bulgarian Journalists. Later, he was fired from Monitor as well, and he came to be the host of Attack, a talk show on the Bulgarian cable TV channel "SKAT". In it, he chastised the perceived corruption of the Bulgarian political establishment and blamed Bulgaria's poor economic condition on the ethnic minorities.
In 2002 Siderov was invited to a controversial anti-globalisation conference in Moscow
where he rubbed shoulders with people like Ahmed Rami and David Duke
.
of Sofia
on the ticket of the marginal National Association-BZNS Party. He received 1,728 votes, or 0.45% (http://izbori.is-bg.net/tour1/rez/1-2246-2.html). That attempt passed largely unnoticed for the general public.
During the June 2005 parliamentary elections, already a popular TV host, Siderov organised and led the nationalist coalition "Attack", named after his talk show. Surprisingly, the coalition won 8.14% (296,848 votes) of the total vote, thus becoming the 4th largest party in parliament. (Source: Central Elections Committee.) Soon afterwards, Siderov founded a political party of the same name.
has improved at the polls. He has been labeled xenophobic, and his persona
has been called "a studied imitation of Hitler". He has criticised the "symbiotic relationship" between established political parties and organised criminal groups. He has also spoken against the purportedly "widespread discrimination" against majority ethnic Bulgarians by their own state, particularly in relation to the alleged non-prosecution by the state of crimes committed by ethnic minorities and the supposed free provision to certain ethnic groups of social services that have been denied to ordinary Bulgarians (explain).
Siderov and his party 'Attack' were among the few Bulgarian political forces that opposed the closing of the four Units of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant
. Units 1 and 2 were taken shut down in the end of 2003 and Units 3 and 4 were taken out of operation in the final hours of 2006, immediately prior to the country's accession to the European Union.
In February 2007, the newspaper "168 hours" published claims that the Movement for Rights and Freedoms has paid BGN 1.6 Million to "Attack". On February 23, 2007 Volen Siderov appeared in the offices of the "168 Hours", and asked for an explanation, which was not provided. Attack is suing the newspaper for libel.
. In the first round on October 22 he received 21% of the vote and qualified for the runoff on October 29 against incumbent
Georgi Parvanov
, who had 65%. Parvanov was not declared the winner after the first round because, in accordance with Bulgarian electoral law, at least 50% of all registered voters had to take part in the first round for that. Mainstream right-wing parties in Bulgaria (the UDF
and the DSB
) refused to back any of the candidates, despite appeals by many observers, notably by fellow conservative and European People's Party
chairman Hans-Gert Pöttering
, to support Parvanov (the situation was commonly compared with the way French left voters supported mainstream right-wing candidate Jacques Chirac
against far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen
in 2002). The centrist National Movement for Simeon II ultimately decided to back Parvanov. Meanwhile some far left formations called their sympathizers to support Siderov. In the second round he lost, receiving about 24% of the vote.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n politician and chairman of the nationalist party Attack
National Union Attack
The National Union Attack is a nationalist political party in Bulgaria. At the last legislative elections, 5 July 2009, it won 9.4% of the popular vote and 21 out of 240 seats...
. He is famous for his hard-line attitude towards minorities in Bulgaria, especially Roma and Turk
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
s.
Early life
Siderov was born in 1956 in YambolYambol
Yambol is a city in southeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. As of February 2011, the town has a population of 72,843 inhabitants. It is occasionally spelt 'Jambol'.The administrative centres...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. He received an undergraduate degree in Applied Photography in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, and before the fall of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
in 1989, worked at the National Literature Museum as a photographer.
After the fall of Communism, Siderov became a member of the newly-established Movement for Human Rights. During the fall of 1990, he became the editor-in-chief of Democracy , the official newspaper of the Union of Democratic Forces
Union of Democratic Forces
Union of Democratic Forces or Union of the Democratic Forces is the name of:*Union of Democratic Forces *Union of Democratic Forces *Union of Democratic Forces *Union of Democratic Forces...
(Siderov played a major role in establishing the paper as the official publication of the right-wing party).
In 1992, he was fired from the newspaper and put an end to all relationships with his political partners. In 1995 Siderov led the PR Center of the Bulgarian Socialist Party
Bulgarian Socialist Party
The Bulgarian Socialist Party is social-democratic political party in Bulgaria and successor to the Bulgarian Communist Party. The BSP is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Socialist International, and is currently led by Sergei Stanishev....
during local elections in capital Sofia. Later he unsuccessfully tried to get a place in the lists for MP in the ex-king Simeon II's party NDSV. At one point he was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of Monitor, a newspaper of a political orientation that could be described as nationalist and conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
. In 2000, Siderov was presented with the award of the Union of the Bulgarian Journalists. Later, he was fired from Monitor as well, and he came to be the host of Attack, a talk show on the Bulgarian cable TV channel "SKAT". In it, he chastised the perceived corruption of the Bulgarian political establishment and blamed Bulgaria's poor economic condition on the ethnic minorities.
In 2002 Siderov was invited to a controversial anti-globalisation conference in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
where he rubbed shoulders with people like Ahmed Rami and David Duke
David Duke
David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
.
Rise in politics
During the 2003 local elections Siderov ran for mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
on the ticket of the marginal National Association-BZNS Party. He received 1,728 votes, or 0.45% (http://izbori.is-bg.net/tour1/rez/1-2246-2.html). That attempt passed largely unnoticed for the general public.
During the June 2005 parliamentary elections, already a popular TV host, Siderov organised and led the nationalist coalition "Attack", named after his talk show. Surprisingly, the coalition won 8.14% (296,848 votes) of the total vote, thus becoming the 4th largest party in parliament. (Source: Central Elections Committee.) Soon afterwards, Siderov founded a political party of the same name.
Controversy
Siderov has generated increasing controversy as AttackAttack
Attack may refer to:* Attack * The Attack , 1960s* Attack Records, label* Offensive * Charge * Attack - Titled works :* The Attack , book* Attack! , 2003...
has improved at the polls. He has been labeled xenophobic, and his persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
has been called "a studied imitation of Hitler". He has criticised the "symbiotic relationship" between established political parties and organised criminal groups. He has also spoken against the purportedly "widespread discrimination" against majority ethnic Bulgarians by their own state, particularly in relation to the alleged non-prosecution by the state of crimes committed by ethnic minorities and the supposed free provision to certain ethnic groups of social services that have been denied to ordinary Bulgarians (explain).
Siderov and his party 'Attack' were among the few Bulgarian political forces that opposed the closing of the four Units of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant
The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria situated north of Sofia and east of Kozloduy, a town on the Danube river, near the border with Romania. It is the country's only nuclear power plant and the largest in the region...
. Units 1 and 2 were taken shut down in the end of 2003 and Units 3 and 4 were taken out of operation in the final hours of 2006, immediately prior to the country's accession to the European Union.
In February 2007, the newspaper "168 hours" published claims that the Movement for Rights and Freedoms has paid BGN 1.6 Million to "Attack". On February 23, 2007 Volen Siderov appeared in the offices of the "168 Hours", and asked for an explanation, which was not provided. Attack is suing the newspaper for libel.
Presidential election 2006
Siderov ran for President in the 2006 presidential electionBulgarian presidential election, 2006
The 2006 Bulgarian presidential election was held on 22 October 2006, as decided on 27 July 2006 by the Bulgarian Parliament. The runoff took place on 29 October 2006, while the electoral campaign spanned 19 September–20 October...
. In the first round on October 22 he received 21% of the vote and qualified for the runoff on October 29 against incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Georgi Parvanov
Georgi Parvanov
Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov is a President of Bulgaria, whose second and last mandate expires on January 22, 2012; he was elected after defeating his predecessor Petar Stoyanov in the second round of the presidential elections in November 2001 and he came into office on January 22, 2002...
, who had 65%. Parvanov was not declared the winner after the first round because, in accordance with Bulgarian electoral law, at least 50% of all registered voters had to take part in the first round for that. Mainstream right-wing parties in Bulgaria (the UDF
Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgaria)
The Union of Democratic Forces is a political party in Bulgaria, founded in 1989 as a union of several political organizations in opposition to the communist government. In February 1997 the Union was transformed into a single unified party with the same name...
and the DSB
Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria
Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria is a political party in Bulgaria established by former Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov . The motto of the party is "For a Strong Bulgaria in Unified Europe".- History :...
) refused to back any of the candidates, despite appeals by many observers, notably by fellow conservative and European People's Party
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
chairman Hans-Gert Pöttering
Hans-Gert Pöttering
Hans-Gert Pöttering is a German conservative politician , and was the President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009...
, to support Parvanov (the situation was commonly compared with the way French left voters supported mainstream right-wing candidate Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
against far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...
in 2002). The centrist National Movement for Simeon II ultimately decided to back Parvanov. Meanwhile some far left formations called their sympathizers to support Siderov. In the second round he lost, receiving about 24% of the vote.