Vanya Rumenova Grigorova ( bg, Ваня Руменова Григорова; born 12 September 1978) is a Bulgarian economist, trade unionist,

labour activist A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...

, and politician. She was an economic counselor to the

Confederation of Labour Podkrepa The Confederation of Labour Podkrepa is a trade union centre in Bulgaria. It was founded February 8, 1989 and has a membership of approximately 150,000 individuals. It is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation and the Europ ...

from 2015 to 2023. She unsuccessfully ran for

Mayor of Sofia This is a chronological list of mayors of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, since that post was established after the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878. The first governor of Sofia was Petr Alabin. Initially, the mayors of Sofia were assigned by the ...

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and is currently a member of the

Sofia City Council The Sofia City Council is the legislative body of Sofia Municipality. It consists of 61 councilmen elected via proportional vote Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are ...

Early life, education and career

Born in Sofia, Vanya Grigorova grew up in the capital's Slatina district. She completed her secondary education at the National High School of Commerce and Banking. She holds a Bachelor's and master's degree from the

University of National and World Economy The University of National and World Economy ( bg, Университет за национално и световно стопанство) is a university in Sofia, Bulgaria. Notable alumni of the university are five Prime Ministers of Bulga ...

, majoring in marketing. She used to work as a cleaner in a school and as a worker in a fast food chain. Later on she was a researcher at an online research agency, a market expert at a telecom and a consultant at the Bulgarian wing of the

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

NGO, where she was involved in projects aiming the integration of the Roma community. In 2015, she became an economic advisor to the president of the

. After the announcement of her candidacy for mayor of the capital in the local elections in 2023, she was relieved of her functions in the union.

Political career

In the

2019 European Parliament elections Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, she ran for

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as an Independent with the slogan "People before profits". She only received 9320 votes (0.4%), therefore not passing the barrier to the European Parliament. She ran for

in the

2023 Bulgarian local elections Local elections in Bulgaria were held on 29 October 2023. Mayors and municipal councillors across the country were elected. Electoral system The elections to Bulgaria's municipal councils are conducted via proportional representation with an ...

, and was nominated by a local coalition, which includes the

Bulgarian Socialist Party The Bulgarian Socialist Party ( bg, Българска социалистическа партия, translit=Balgarska sotsialisticheska partiya, BSP), also known as The Centenarian ( bg, Столетницата, links=no, translit=Stoletnitsat ...

, The Left!,

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and other smaller parties. The first round of the election took place on 29 October 2023, and Grigorova ended up second with 21.59% of the votes. Grigorova's result was considered a big surprise, as Anton Hekimyan from the GERB—SDS coalition was expected to finish second as per opinion polls. Her result secured a place for her at the second round of the election, where on 5 November she faced

PP–DB PP–DB ( bg, ПП – ДБ) is an electoral coalition between We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria in Bulgaria. The two groups merged prior to the 2023 election. Background Bulgarian political crisis Following numerous corrupt ...

candidate Vasil Terziev and lost by a narrow margin.

Political positions

In 2018, Grigorova supported the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Bulgaria and criticised BSP for their opposition to it in a post on her Facebook page.

Notes

References

1978 births Living people 21st-century Bulgarian politicians 21st-century Bulgarian women politicians Politicians from Sofia University of National and World Economy alumni {{Improve categories, date=November 2023