Expelled Socialist Party MP to Launch His Own Party

Georgi Kadiev, a lawmaker who was expelled from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, has said he is to launch his own political project.

Kadiev, once known as a self-styled "dissident" within the party, was ousted in the autumn after deciding to run as an independent candidate in the local elections, without having the BSP's endorsement.

"It is the easiest thing for me to emigrate. Two million Bulgarians did," he has said on his Facebook profile, in a reference to the mass exodus of Bulgarians in the 1990s and 2000s.

In his words, Bulgaria has to start rebuilding itself from scratch. He calls on Bulgarians to join his fight against corruption, vote-buying, and poverty, but has not yet given details.

This will be the third party to splinter off from the BSP, after government ally ABV of ex-President Georgi Parvanov and Movement 21 of Tatyana Doncheva.