Bulgaria Socialists Hold Party Congress over Election Loss

Sergey Stanishev is most likely going to remain BSP Chair after Sunday's Congress. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian Socialist Party is holding Sunday its 47th Party Congress, which was summoned early over the staggering loss of the July Parliamentary Elections.

The agenda of the Congress includes an assessment of BSP’s participation in the government of Bulgaria (2005-2009), and analyzing the current political situation in the country.

The agenda includes no section on the election of a new leader, and there have not been any challengers to the party Chair, former Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev. Yet, Stanishev is expected to ask the 800 delegates for a confidence vote.

At the same time, the BSP spokespersons Korneliya Ninova and Anton Kutev have made it clear that if any new candidates for the Chair position appear on the day of the Congress, the voting could be included in the agenda on the spot. Stanishev himself has refused to resign even though some of the other key figures in the party such as Rumen Petkov and Rumen Ovcharov have prompted him to do so.

On Sunday, the 47th Party Congress is also expected to adopt a draft declaration approved by the National Council of the party on Friday stating that the crisis in the BSP might become “irreversible” if no urgent measures are taken.

After ruling Bulgaria for four years as part of a three-way coalition together with the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), the Socialists lost Bulgaria's Parliamentary Elections in July 2009 by getting only 18% of the votes vs. 40% for the GERB party led by current Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.