Bulgarian media are widely reporting Friday that former Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov is continuing his tour of the country, now as a candidate to chair the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

Monday Parvanov, who has not hidden his intention to return to the socialists, officially announced his decision to run for leader at the plenum in May.

Friday he is heading to visit Pleven, Cherven Bryag and Belene in central northern Bulgaria, after having mingled with socialists in other parts of the country in previous weeks.

Parvanov's intention to run has been dismissed by current socialist leader and former Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev as unsubstantiated and divisive for the party.

Key socialist politicians, such as MP Anton Kutev, have ventured as far as to say that the otherwise desirable Parvanov has turned into a "problem" for the party.

Parvanov stepped down from serving two 5-year terms as Bulgaria's president in late January, after which immediately returned to party work.

Parvanov chaired the Bulgarian Socialist Party from 1996 until being elected in his first term as Bulgaria's President in 2001, during which period he did much to reform the party and make it a pro-Western European social-democratic party.

He was succeeded by Stanishev, who served as Bulgaria's PM 2005-9, and currently holds the interim presidency of the Party of European Socialists.