site.btaBSP to Hold Party Congress on February 7-8, National Council Decides

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) will convene a congress on February 7 and 8, the party’s National Council decided on Saturday, said leader of BSP–Sofia and head of the BSP for Bulgaria coalition in the City Council, Ivan Takov, at a briefing for journalists.

The decision was made following an almost three-hour meeting of the BSP National Council. It was scheduled last month when the BSP Executive Bureau resigned following the December 11 resignation of the coalition government the BSP was part of. 

Approached by journalists on their way to the meeting, BSP members differed in their answers on whether a party congress should be convened and whether a new leadership should be elected before the snap parliamentary elections.

“I am satisfied with the decision of the National Council and with the meaningful discussion we had there. The decision is to hold a congress before the elections,” Takov said. “At it, we first need to have an accurate and clear analysis of our participation in governance, of our parliamentary activity, as well as a platform and guidelines for the next elections we must hold, and also the election of a new leadership,” he added.

Takov explained that nomination meetings at the district and municipal conferences are about to begin.

When asked whether he himself would be a candidate for the chairmanship of the BSP, Takov replied that he does not rule out any option. “This is a matter of nominations and a decision of the congress,” he commented.

Back in December, BSP Chair Atanas Zafirov did not resign, arguing that being elected by the party congress, he should ask again the congress to endorse his resignation. On January 9, he commented that holding the congress in a hurry would scatter the forces of the Left, and that all major decisions must be made after the early parliamentary elections. 

On Saturday, BSP youth organization head Gabriel Valkov told journalists that the National Council meeting would convene a BSP congress. He said the meeting would adopt the party's political platform for the upcoming parliamentary elections and analyse the BSP's participation in the outgoing government. "The most important thing is to change the BSP leadership, because the Left needs a new path with new representatives, who I believe with the new platform will be able to return the BSP to the first rows in Parliament," Valkov commented. In his words, the party is currently united and heading together toward a unifying congress.