Cracks in Left-Wing Talks on Bulgaria's President Elections as Party Pulls Out

Movement 21, the smallest party in the talks among left-wingers seeking to produce a joint nomination for Bulgaria's presidential elections, is withdrawing from the dialogue, its leader has said.

Tatyana Doncheva, who heads Movement 21, has cited differences with the biggest party in the talks, the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), in a statement to the media.

She slammed the BSP's leadership, arguing it is  "not ready" for such a dialogue and claiming its main goal is to simulate its "progress" rather than to win elections.

Since July, the BSP, the second-largest party in the current Parliament, has been carrying out talks with ABV and Movement 21, both splinter parties whose core membership quit the BSP in the past few weeks.

However, Movement 21, which mustered just 1.195% of the parliamentary vote in October 2014, now maintains a dialogue on a presidential candidate should not involve only left-of-center parties as it gives an edge to GERB, the conservative party of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Three months before the vote, no major party has produced a presidential candidate, amid speculation whether or not Borisov intends to run.

The BSP and ABV are increasingly looking into the names of either one of their respective leaders - Korneliya Ninova and two-time Bulgarian President (2002-2012) Georgi Parvanov - or a "non-partisan" figure such as Air Force Commander Maj Gen Rumen Radev.