site.btaABV Leader Purvanov: ABV will be Rival to Socialists in Upcoming Local Elections

ABV Leader Purvanov: ABV will be Rival to Socialists in Upcoming Local Elections


Sofia, February 4 (BTA) - Leader of the left-wing ABV and former
President (2002-2012) Georgi Purvanov told a news conference
Wednesday that his formation and the Bulgarian Socialist Party
(BSP) will "apparently" be rivals in the upcoming local
elections "with all risks such a position may entail for the
future of the left".

Purvanov recalled that he had called on all leftist forces to
interact at the coming local elections but the reaction from the
BSP headquarters was negative.

Purvanov said ABV will not be waging personal disputes but will
lead a debate on the modern left. The politician said that the
formation is ready for a comparison of what has been achieved in
the social sphere in the first 100 days of office of incumbent
Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivailo Kalfin, who is a member
of ABV, and the previous cabinet of Plamen Oresharski.

Commenting the news of NATO's plans to set up a command and
control centre in Sofia, Purvanov said that Bulgaria must reject
any attempt - both from within and from without - to be
qualified as a front-line country.

He said however that his formation would not be against a
coordinating facility on Bulgarian territory. Purvanov opposed
the idea for "deploying new units in Bulgaria in this delicate
and difficult time". "Bulgaria must categorically state that it
will not allow to become a territory for a base, for attacks
against its neighbours," he said.

The politician said also that ABV is launching a sign-in
campaign for an ad hoc committee of inquiry to check and
evaluate the state of the energy sector. The committee is to be
composed on the basis of parity.