Top Socialists Disgruntled over Confidence Vote of Ex-PM Stanishev

A number of the members of the National Council of the BSP believe ex-PM Stanishev should resign as party chair. Photo by BGNES

A number of members of the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party were dissatisfied with the confidence vote that the party chair, ex-PM Stanishev, received on Saturday.

During an emergency meeting of the National Council of the party convened after the BSP lost the July 5 Parliamentary Elections by getting about 18% vs. 40% for the GERB party, Sergey Stanishev received a vote of confidence by the Council of 122 in favor of him remaining a Chair vs. 29 voting against.

Some of the Council members criticized the whole procedure by pointing out that the National Council could not remove the leader anyway as under the party statutes this could be done only by a party congress (which is expected to convene in October 2009).

"Those 29 members who voted against are "golden" because they guarantee that the party will have a future", said Georgi Bliznashki, a member of the National Council.

Bliznashki said that during the last party congress in the fall of 2008, the National Council was not "elected" but "selected" by the circle close to the leader Stanishev, alluding to manipulations in the intra-party elections.

"What lacked during today's meeting was the theme of corruption. We cannot summon enough strength to expose those persons from our party who abused power. The only thing left of us is to learn about their violations by those who are now taking over", Bliznashki stated referring to the GERB party, which is expected to form the new Bulgarian cabinet next week.

Bliznashki also claims that one of the Deputy Ministers of Finance in the Stanishev government of the three-way coalition, who was from the quota of the BSP, deliberately supported the introduction of the flat tax rates in order to be able to make additional about BGN 200 000 annually from his participation in the governing boards of various companies. Bliznashki did not name the former Deputy Minister in question.

One of the old emblematic leaders of the BSP, Alexander Lilov, who was a top figure in BSP's predecessor, the Bulgarian Communist Party, on November 10, 1989, when communist dictator Todor Zhivkov was ousted, said told the Council that the
Socialists had to face the fact of the catastrophic loss of the recent elections, and tackle the issue of the so called "party periphery" becoming increasingly estranged from the party core.

The BSP is expected to hold an emergency national party congress in October 2009; the question about ex-PM Sergey Stanishev remaining a party Chair after the election loss is expected to be discussed then.

 

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