site.btaBSP and ABV Come Close to Agreeing on Maj. Gen. Rumen Radev as Single Left-Wing Candidate for President

BSP and ABV Come Close to Agreeing on Maj. Gen. Rumen Radev as Single Left-Wing Candidate for President

Sofia, August 10 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ABV party have come close to agreeing on Maj. Gen. Rumen Radev as a single left-wing candidate for president of Bulgaria, BSP Chair Kornelia Ninova told journalists on Wednesday, emerging from a meeting between the two parties.

Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers proposed to President Rosen Plevneliev to discharge Gen. Radev from military service as quickly as possible. Radev has already resigned as Air Force Commander.

But Ninova noted that the BSP National Council will consider and vote on as many as six possible presidential and vice-presidential candidates nominated earlier plus two more proposed by the BSP leadership, provided that the procedural barriers are removed.

The BSP and the ABV share the view that the left wing should stand in the November 6 presidential elections as a coalition of political parties, Ninova went on to say. They also concur that their vice-presidential candidate should be considered only after the presidential candidate is named, because the latter should take part in the talks.

ABV Chair and former Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov said that Gen. Radev's bid for the presidency will be put to the vote in the ABV National Council. Purvanov said: "Driven by our positive desire to have a strong and compelling candidate, the ABV turned down my own bid and that of Ivailo Kalfin." He noted that Gen. Radev's candidacy is not just equidistant from all left-wing parties concerned, but it has every chance of becoming the winning candidacy in the elections.

Purvanov congratulated BSP and its leader Ninova on proposing Gen. Radev for president. He added that, in theory, it is now the ABV's turn to propose a vice president, but they will leave it to the presidential candidate to do that.