Bulgaria's Stanishev Voted PES Leader in Ceausescu Palace

The European Socialists will vote for the Bulgarian nomination, Sergey Stanishev, to become their leader, in the palace of former Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, in Bucharest.

The news was reported Monday by Standard daily.

The huge building currently houses the Romanian Parliament.

The congress of the Party of the European Socialists, PES, will be held from September 27 to 29. Bulgaria has the right of 8 votes, who have already been selected, but the entire leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, is expected to travel to Bucharest. The BSP Members of the European Parliament will also be in attendance.

Stanishev is temporary leader of PES, leader of BSP, and former Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

The delegation will also include the 50 socialists who have collected the most signatures for the petition to hold a referendum on the project, scrapped by the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, to build a second Nuclear Power Plant, NPP, in the Danube town of Belene.

The 100-year-old socialist, Asen Kostov, from Sofia, who collected 200 signatures, will be a special guest.

The number of PES activists in Bulgaria grew to 2 000 after 400 new membership applications were collected Saturday at the traditional socialist meeting at Mount Buzludzha.

Stanishev already has the support of German, Spanish and Greek socialists. The ones from Denmark are also expected to back him up, but this will become official after mid-September when their congress will be held.

The official campaign to elect the new PES leader starts on September 10. The only currently known nomination is the one of Stanishev, which, according to political analysts, is a sign that the European Socialists, have joined around him.