Ex-Bulgarian President Negotiating with Parties for EU Elections List

The Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV) movement of the former President Georgi Parvanov is negotiating with several parties for the upcoming European parliament elections.

In Varna, where ABV opened its new office on Monday, the former head of state assured that his movement is not planning to be registered as a political entity and its list for the European elections will be presented as a coalition with other parties.

Parvanov refused to specify which parties he was referring to, citing the "very high pressure" in politics as a reason to remain silent. What he did elaborate on was that all of the participants in his coalition would be parties not currently in parliament.

"These political actors will be divided into two circles - parties which are part of the coalition agreement and those that support it and are ready for partnership", Parvanov also explained.

The ex-President of Bulgaria (2002-2012) also commented on recent matters that are stirring controversy among politicians and society. He expressed his strong disagreement with the idea of electoral agitation in a language other than Bulgarian, stating that such a measure would provoke ethnic tensions.

ABV, Parvanov's movement that was formed in 2010 - a year before the end of his second presidential term - had largely remained silent in Bulgarian political struggles until January.

In mid-January, ABV announced that it had decided to form an alternative left-wing list for the upcoming European elections in May. It also declared that MEP Ivaylo Kalfin was chosen to lead the list.

The move was harshly criticized by Bulgarian Socialist Party's leader, Sergei Stanishev, who was Parvanov's successor at this office after the latter won the 2001 President elections. Parvanov, however, has not been expelled from the BSP, of which he is still a member.

Polling agencies tend to differ in their assessment on ABV's possible result at the elections, with Gallup's 6% among the highest.

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