Bulgarian Socialist Leader Vows 2013 Poll Victory

Politics » DOMESTIC | May 19, 2012, Saturday // 13:34
Bulgarian Socialist Leader Vows 2013 Poll Victory: Bulgarian Socialist Leader Vows 2013 Poll Victory A fierce battle for the leadership of the Bulgarian left-wing, between the current Socialist Chair, former PM, Sergey Stanishev (l) and former President, Georgi Parvanov (r), is culminating Saturday, at the party's congress. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The leader of the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, Sergey Stanishev, delivered a long keynote address at the party's 48th congress, focusing on the victory in the 2013 general elections.

In it, he outlined ways to prevail over the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, his strong will to overcome, the Socialists political platform, team spirit and good organization, adequate coalition policy, clear commitments and fair elections.

The main intrigue at the congress, held Saturday, is the election of the new party leader.

The front runners are current leader and former Prime Minister Stanishev and former President, Georgi Parvanov, who served 2 terms in office (2002 – 2012).

As soon as he left the Presidential Office at the beginning of 2012, Parvanov declared he wants to take over the party's helm again (he was BSP leader before becoming President) while Stanishev made it clear he has no intentions to give up on the leadership.

After that the two traveled across the country for months to gather support and blasted each other in the media. Parvanov recently stated that the current BSP leadership has given BGN 1 M for black PR against him, something Stanishev vehemently denied.

Stanishev has 179 nominations from municipal Socialist conferences while Parvanov has 82.

On Saturday, Parvanov refused to sit at the presidium, despite his name being listed there, and choose to remain in the hall, among delegates from the western city and region of Pernik, where his home village is located. The ex-President had been noticed taking notes, but not applauding with others during Stanishev's speech.

In it, the current party leader never mentioned by name his adversary, but attacked him indirectly by saying that "no negotiations with GERB were possible, even for the sake of national consensus," the latter being a favorite wording of Parvanov.

In the address, Stanishev thanked his former partners from the Three-Way Coalition Cabinet – the former King, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, and the leader of the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, Ahmed Dogan, but also made it clear his task in such coalition had not been easy.

The address mainly attacked GERB.

"GERB are like cicadas. Wherever they go, the grass stops growing. Their legacy, unlike ours, will be grim," said he.

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Tags: GERB, leader, Georgi Parvanov, Sergey Stanishev, BSP, delegates, Bulgarian Socialist Party, opposition, Congress, Three-Way Coalition cabinet, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, Ahmed Dogan

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