Bulgarian Socialists Deem Ex-President ‘Self-Expelled’ from Party

Former Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) is set to announce the "self-expulsion" of former Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.

At its upcoming National Council on Friday, Bulgaria's ruling party will also declare the resignation of key BSP members who earlier joined Parvanov's splinter movement called Alternative for Bulgarian Renaissance (ABV), Dnevnik.bg has learned.

Former Interior Minister Rumen Petkov and the city of Pernik's mayor Rositsa Yanakieva are among the ones whose membership is to be cancelled.

The list also includes prof. Georgi Bliznashki, a Sofia University lecturer who has been in the party's leadership for years.

A few weeks earlier, Bliznashki headed the initiative committee collecting signatures for a referendum on voting rules proposed by President Rosen Plevneliev, a move that was largely looked at by BSP as an attack on their current electoral legislation.

Georgi Parvanov, who led the BSP before being elected for President in 2001, has been at odds with the socialists over the last few months after surprisingly announcing the ABV movement would set up its own list at the European Elections, led by MEP Ivaylo Kalfin.

The former President then declined to leave the BSP, thus continuing a long-lasting leadership battle within the party.

Ivaylo Kalfin, who remained a BSP MP after the scandal erupted, is not among those to be expelled.

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