site.btaFormer BSP Leader Stanishev Warns Party Could Miss Parliament Over Radev Project

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) faces a potentially existential threat of failing to enter Parliament because of its past role in government and the emergence of a new political project linked to former president Rumen Radev, ex-BSP leader Sergei Stanishev said on Saturday.

Stanishev called for a clear dividing line between BSP and Radev’s project and backed new BSP Chair Krum Zarkov’s plans for changes and reforms in the party.

Stanishev added that BSP members had worked in two election campaigns for Radev and see him as one of their own. That was why the party needs to draw a clear line between BSP and Radev’s project, which, for now, has no political profile, he said. Bulgaria needs a political left, he added.

Stanishev said Zarkov made a strong pledge to push changes and reforms in BSP so it could be useful to society. He said left-wing supporters need hope that the left would endure and work for Bulgaria to be a social State, economically prosperous, and able to find its place in a changing world and in the European Union.

Stanishev said he believes Zarkov could do it, but needs support. He added that he expected different people to join the party’s Executive Bureau, sharing a single vision for change, and for BSP to remain independent.

Asked whether it would be the chair’s responsibility if BSP failed to enter the next Parliament, Stanishev said that Zarkov had only just been elected and should not be held accountable for that. “We have to do our job so we would have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said.