Bulgarian Socialists Prepare to Ride Popularity Surge

Bulgarian Socialist Party leader and ex-PM Sergey Stanishev pulling pranks in Parliament. Photo by BGNES

The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and ex-PM Sergey Stanishev expressed optimism for the outlook of his party in the upcoming 2011, which will see Bulgarians vote for both president and local authorities.
Speaking in an interview for the Bulgarian News Agency, he stressed the fact that in recent opinion surveys the Socialist Party - Bulgaria's biggest opposition formation - is the only one registering a boost in support.
This surge nevertheless comes after BSP scored a record-low level of support, retaining it for some months after the 2009 general elections, which it catastrophically lost to GERB.
Stanishev further commented that regarding the Socialists' presidential candidate, he is ready to discuss on a joint or compromise candidate with outgoing president Georgi Parvanov, who has vowed to stay in Bulgarian politics after the end of his second term.
The relations between Parvanov's political project and the Socialist Party are unclear, as Parvanov himself is strongly left-leaning and chaired BSP before Stanishev.
The Socialist leader also stated that he has 4 or 5 potential presidential candidacies in mind, but chose not to name names