By the nomination of We Continue the Change, Kotsev was appointed on February 24, 2022, by the Petkov Government to serve as District governor of the Varna Province.

[5] A snap parliamentary election was called in Bulgaria on October 2, 2022, due to the successful vote of no confidence against the Petkov Government earlier in the year.

After the political parties in the 48th National Assembly failed to form a government, another snap parliamentary election was called on April 2, 2023.

[7] As the 2023 Bulgarian local elections approached, the PP-DB electoral alliance nominated Kotsev as their candidate for Mayor of Varna.

His campaign heavily focused on criticizing the governing policies for the past 12 years in Varna of the GERB political party.