site.btaBSP Leadership Remains Unchanged

BSP Leadership Remains Unchanged

Sofia, November 15 (BTA) - After a nine-hour plenum called to
discuss the heavy loss suffered by the Bulgarian Socialist Party
 (BSP) in the recent local elections, leader Mihail Mikov said
the National Council did not back the attempt to destabilize the
 leadership.

The collective resignation of the Executive Bureau was rejected
by a vote of 42-44, with 10 abstentions. Three of its members -
Dragomir Stoynev, Kaloyan Pargov and Iliana Iotova - quit the
leadership of their own free will.

Mikov said that this was not a matter of survival and that such
actions had been unnecessary. "Obviously, those who feel
insecure tried to create a certain environment before the
Congress. The resignation issue was raised very actively by the
leaders of the BSP chapters in Sofia and Plovdiv, which had the
worst showing; they launched an all-out attack on the Executive
Bureau."

The BSP leader also said it was the delegates to the Congress
who had voted him in office. He thanked both those who stayed
and those who quit the Bureau, adding that the latter should not
 run for election again.

Mikov said that while some reasonable criticisms were made at
the plenum, other critiques were intended to hit the Bureau so
that some people could regain lost ground.

The National Council held a minute of silence for the victims of
 the Paris terror attacks. The Socialists adopted a declaration
condemning the attacks.