07 Oct 2025
Tens of thousands of Bulgarian citizens cast their votes to determine the winners of the “Mayor of the Year” 2025 competition, announced today. The official ceremony took place at the “Marinela” Hotel in Sofia, in the presence of Vice President Iliana Yotova. For the 13th consecutive year, the online voting was organized by Kmeta.bg.
Two significant awards in special categories are now part of the portfolio of the Municipality of Stara Zagora.
The first award is in the category “Investment and Growth,” where Mayor Zhivko Todorov was recognized together with his colleagues Eng. Deyan Ivanov (Beloslav) and Stancho Stavrev (Tundzha). Deputy Mayor Radostin Tanev accepted the award on behalf of Zhivko Todorov at the ceremony, receiving it from Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Doncho Barbalov. “This is an extremely important category. The role of municipalities and mayors is to stay close to the people, and our role as a state is to support that process,” commented Minister Barbalov.
“It is an honor for me to accept this award on behalf of Mr. Todorov, as well as the entire team that works every day. I would like to thank Invest Stara Zagora, the Zagore Industrial Zone, and everyone who believed in us, invested here, and those who will do so in the future,” said Radostin Tanev. “Our goal is to develop Stara Zagora as an industrial center, and we are achieving this—last year, two priority investment projects were certified, both of them in Stara Zagora,” he pointed out.
“Our aim is to develop the municipality as an industrial center because we know that this is how we develop the potential of the most important thing—the people. Thank you and good luck to all!” he concluded.
The second award for the Municipality of Stara Zagora was in the technological category “Smart City.” The recognition for Zhivko Todorov was shared with his colleagues Ivaylo Kracholov (Chirpan) and Dr. Darin Dimitrov (Targovishte). The award was accepted by the Municipal Secretary of Stara Zagora, Nikolay Dikov, who received it from Vivacom’s CEO Asen Velikov.
“I accept this award on behalf of the Municipality of Stara Zagora with deep gratitude and as recognition for our work. And not only because we implement new technologies and seek new solutions, but because of the way we do it—entirely in the service of the people,” said Dikov.
“Smart solutions and smart cities are not something complicated—they simply follow the development of technologies and the times we live in. Our job is to adapt them to the needs of the people and the specifics of each municipality,” he noted.
“There is no point in innovation if it doesn’t improve quality of life or administrative efficiency. That is why we focus on sustainable, practical, and people-centered solutions that simplify daily life, save time and resources, and make the administration more open and accessible,” Dikov summarized.
“We have an innovative project developed entirely by the team of the Municipality of Stara Zagora, which is only waiting for funding from the central government,” he emphasized.
The official “Mayor of the Year” 2025 awards ceremony will be broadcast on BNT 1 on October 12, 2025, at 16:00.
