From Imran Khan to George Weah and Vitali Klitschko, the phenomenon of sports stars swapping bats, boots and gloves for a shot at political power is not new, but there’s a veritable stampede underway right now in Bulgaria.
They include 2020 women’s Olympic karate gold-medallist Ivet Goranova, world volleyball champion Vladimir Nikolov, long distance swimmer Petar Stoychev and gymnast Yordan Yovchev, who competed in six consecutive Olympic games – all of them lined up behind former President Rumen Radev in his newly-formed Progressive Bulgaria party.
Polls point unanimously to Progressive Bulgaria winning the country’s April 19 snap parliamentary election and taking into parliament a host of new and old faces, many of them former members of the fading, pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP.
Its most recognisable MP candidates, however, are from the world of sport.
“A champion’s sporting legacy and untarnished reputation can convince many undecided voters to go to the polls,” said Peter Georgiev, a journalist with Bulgaria’s public broadcaster who covers politics, current affairs and sports.