Ex President Offers Socialist Party Chairman Deal for Party Leadership
Thursday, 01 January 1970
Former President Georgi Purvanov said he had offered the incumbent chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Sergei Stanishev to nominate and fully support his candidacy for president of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in November if Stanishev quits the race for BSP leader.
Stanishev, however, turned down the proposal, state-run Bulgarian National Television (BNT) quoted Purvanov as saying.
Stanishev was elected PES interim president in November.
Purvanov also proposed that BSP's leader should be elected directly by all party members, and not by the party congress.
Stanishev, however, dismissed the idea on the grounds that there is no time for a change as the party congress is scheduled for May 19.