The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) is not strong enough to wage successful political battles, its leader and the country's Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev said on Sunday at the opening of the 46th party congress.

At the same time there are BSP members who lobby for other political powers, Stanishev warned and added that these members will not be expelled, but there must be order inside the party.

The two main topics that make up the congress are BSP'a readiness to go on the upcoming local elections

The prime minister appealed to all party members to show their strong support for the politics of the party and the government together. The dilemma that BSP faces these days is not whether the party will survive or not, but whether Bulgaria will have the national potential for development, he added.

"There was no need to hold a congress in the middle of the cabinet's mandate, but after we were accused of leading pro-rightist politics and the governance harms BSP, there was no other way but to ask party's members of their opinion," the PM announced.

Among the problems the party must solve, Stanishev mentioned the poverty in the country, but the most important one is to find a quick and effective way of getting out of the severe crisis in the people's trust not only in BSP but in the whole three-way coalition.

"As if there are two separate Bulgarias - Bulgaria of the voting people and Bulgaria of the ones who refuse to vote, Bulgaria of the society and Bulgaria of the politicians," Stanishev commented.

"The people who do not vote become hostages of the actively voting minorities," he added.

Another problem Stanishev pointed out was the corruption, which is "suffocating" many sectors of the politics, the business, and the state administration. This creates a strong feeling of uncertainty among the people, who even more strongly believe the politicians and the institutions make decisions only under the influence of factors of certain economic nature.

BSP's main priority until the end of the year is to win the local elections with a smashing majority, having for its rivals two "powerful populist formations in Bulgaria", Stanishev concluded.

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