Yordanka Asenova Fandakova ( bg, Йорданка Асенова Фандъкова) (born 12 April 1962) is a Bulgarian politician and

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 ...

. She is the first woman to hold this position. She was elected on 15 November 2009, after defeating the Bulgarian Socialist Party contender Georgi Kadiev. Fandakova is a member of the conservative

GERB GERB ( bg, ГЕРБ, translation=coat of arms, acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) is a conservative, Populism, populist List of political parties in Bulgaria, political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria betwee ...

party.

Early life and education

Fandakova was born in

Samokov Samokov ( bg, Самоков ) is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a basin between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due to the suitable winter sports conditions, Sam ...

Sofia Province Sofia Province ( bg, Софийска област, translit=Sofiyska oblast) is a province (''oblast'') of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia remains its administrative center. The province borders on t ...

. She graduated the 35th Russian Language School in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

and the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

, majoring in Russian Studies. She is married and has a daughter. She was a teacher (from 1985) and head teacher (since 1998) at the 73rd secondary school for foreign languages "Vladislav Gramatik" in Sofia. She became Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality of Culture, Education, Sports and Prevention of Abuse in 2007.

Political career

Fandakova was elected Member of Parliament for GERB in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

in the

2009 Bulgarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 5 July 2009. With 40% of the vote, the decisive winner of the elections was the established in 2006 personalistic party of Boyko Borisov, GERB. The Socialist Party, in power before the election, w ...

and was made Minister of Education, Youth and Science. In October Fandakova took a leave because of campaign-trail for mayor elections in Sofia and was substituted by Sergei Ignatov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science who after she won election was appointed as the new Minister of Education and Science. On 15 November 2009, she was elected as mayor of Sofia. Fandakova received 66.23% of the vote in the elections held on 15 November 2009. The Socialist Party contender Georgi Kadiev received 27.71%, with a turnout of 23.17%. She ran for another term as Mayor of Sofia in the 2019 Bulgarian local elections.

References

External links

Biography
Sofia University alumni 1962 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Women mayors of places in Bulgaria Mayors of Sofia People from Samokov GERB politicians Government ministers of Bulgaria Women government ministers of Bulgaria 21st-century Bulgarian politicians 21st-century Bulgarian women politicians {{Bulgaria-politician-stub