A new party will work toward an enhanced state role in the economy, building a solid middle class and fighting depopulation of regions, its future leader, Georgi Kadiev, has said.

Kadiev, once known as a self-styled "dissident" within the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), was ousted from the party in the autumn after deciding to run as an independent candidate in the local elections, without having the BSP's endorsement.

On Sunday he announced on Facebook he was launching a new political project.

This will be the third party to splinter off from the BSP, after government ally ABV of ex-President Georgi Parvanov and Movement 21 of Tatyana Doncheva.

Named 'Normal State', Kadiev's organization, which (in his words) is to obtain court registration by September, stands up for more state investment to encourage industry in less developed regions of Bulgaria, a country where the economic gap between big cities (Sofia in particular) and rural areas has been growing for decades.

State investment should also be channeled to startups and to the creation of a "knowledge-based economy," Dnevnik.bg quotes Kadiev as saying at a press conference.

A middle class should be shaped that does not sell its vote in elections, he has added.

Bringing Bulgarians back to their homeland will be another major goal, and Kadiev has noted that the day more arrivals of Bulgarians are registered than those leaving the country, he will consider his work as a success.

Millions of Bulgarians have left the country since the 1990s, looking for job opportunities and a better life for their families.

Cleavages in Bulgaria are not between "left" or "right" but between "honest and dishonest, corrupt against non-corrupt, disgusting against disgusted", which means the Normal State party does not need ideological labels, Kadiev has made clear.

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