Bulgaria Ex-President Urges Change of Constitution, Political System

Politics » DOMESTIC | May 16, 2016, Monday // 11:19
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Ex-President Urges Change of Constitution, Political System File photo, BGNES

President (2002-2012) said on Monday he would prefer to run in presidential elections under a presidential republic and a new constitution.

In an interview with private NOVA TV broadcaster he refused to make clear whether his name was among those discussed in his ABV party as a candidate for the election this autumn.

However, he stressed he didn't see any legal barriers if he is to run, as constitutional limitations refer to "reelection" for a second consecutive term in office.

"I can be elected until the end of the world," he opined, adding: "I don't have a desire to run for president as I have other ambitions, other ideas for my personal life, but the political decision is yet to come."

Article 95(1) of Bulgaria's Constitution reads that: "The President and the Vice President shall be limited to a single re-election to the same office." Parvanov maintains the right interpretation of the text refers to consecutive terms, and not to their overall number.

In the interview he also explained it would be wrong to name any of the discussed candidates as it could affect "negotiations".

He was referring to parties that attended his left-wing Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV)'s national conference on Sunday. These included VMRO (a nationalist party that currently co-chairs that Patriotic Front coalition backing the minority government) and several smaller parties, but also the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) which, despite not being described by Parvanov as part of the talks, attended the conference.

Parvanov also told NOVA TV the forum had produced a "big and interesting coalition of centrist, center-left, center-right, with a patriotic emphasis, with left-wing organizations." The alliance in question is being forged in the light of the presidential vote.

Opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), however, did not attend the forum despite intense speculation over the past week about possible "dialogue" and a joint presidential candidacy. ABV splintered off the BSP in 2014, severely affecting socialists' election results. It was part of the country's coalition government until last week when it left the cabinet.

Parvanov's two presidential terms were marked by rapprochement with Russia, with the head of state kickstarting three major energy projects with Russian companies that were abandoned for different reasons in the first part of the 2010s.

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Tags: Georgi Parvanov, BSP, ABV, presidential election, constitution

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