Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov's party the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (abbreviated as GERB in Bulgarian) left out two of its key names for the June 7 2009 elections for Bulgarian members of European Parliament.

On May 12 2009, the day when Borissov presented GERB'S ticket for the elections, it became clear that Doushana Zdravkova and Nikolai Mladenov, both current MEPs, will not be on GERB's ticket for the elections.

Borissov did not specify why Zdravkova was excluded from the ticket. In 2007, when Bulgaria had its first ever MEP elections, Borissov described her as one of his closest associates and GERB's co-founder. Zrdavkova used to be chairsperson of the regional court in the Black Sea city of Varna.

As for Mladenov, who left the right-wing party, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), to join GERB, Borissov said that he was given the choice to remain an MEP or take a post in the Bulgarian Government, after the elections also scheduled for this summer on July 5 2009 should GERB win the elections. He chose the latter.

GERB's ticket for the MEP elections will be topped by two of its current MEPs Roumyana Zheleva and Vladimir Ourouchev, followed by Iliana Ivanova, one of GERB's economy experts. The next person on the ticket, Emil Stoyanov, also came as a surprise. He is founder of cable news channel Evropa and was once an active functionary of the UDF. He is also the brother of former president Petar Stoyanov who served in 1997-2002 and got elected as a UDF candidate.