Bulgaria centre-right party endorses university rector for president

FILE PHOTO: Boyko Borissov, former Bulgarian Prime Minister and leader of centre-right GERB party, speaks during a news conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, July 12, 2021. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's centre-right GERB party on Friday endorsed a university rector to run for president in a contest to be held in tandem with a parliamentary election aimed at building a working government and ending months of political uncertainty.

GERB said it backed Sofia University Rector Atanas Gerdzhikov, 58, a professor in Ancient and Medieval Literature who has run Bulgaria's most renowned university since 2015, to challenge incumbent Rumen Radev, 58, for the presidency, a largely ceremonial position.