Sergey Stanishev, leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Party of European Socialists (PES), photo by BGNES
The National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has withdrawn confidence from its members related to the ABV Movement of former President Georgi Parvanov.
BSP representatives, as cited by Darik radio, explained Saturday that the supporters of the Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV) Movement of former BSP Chair and two-term President Georgi Parvanov had been stripped of their rights to hold party office, to be members of governing bodies of the party and to apply for such posts for a period of one year.
The restrictions were adopted against Anatoli Mladenov, Boyka Arabadzhieva, Vladimir Kalchev, Georgi Parvanov, Dilyan Enkin, Evgeni Zhelev, Emil Konstantinov, Krum Miletiev, Lyudmil Veselinov, Rostitsa Yanakieva, Rumen Petkov, Svetlin Nikolov and Trifon Mitev.
BSP leader Sergey Stanishev, as cited by the BGNES news agency, informed that the decision had been backed by 125 votes, three had voted against, and two had abstained.
Stanishev also told journalists that the decision to withdraw confidence from the supporters of the parallel list of candidates for the 2014 European Parliament elections of the ABV Movement was a moral evaluation which ran much deeper than the mere declaration of the termination of membership in the party.
He stressed that the adoption of the measure required a bigger majority vote than the termination of party membership.
Prior to the sitting of the BSP National Council, Stanishev mocked a feeble protest outside the BSP headquarters in Sofia.
A small group of demonstrators chanted "Resign" and booed the BSP HQ, voicing indignation that BSP was holding a sitting on the Day of Recognition and Honouring of the victims of the communist regime.