site.btaSocialist Leader Mikov: We Are Embarking on March to Local Government

Socialist Leader Mikov: We Are Embarking on March to Local Government

Sofia, August 1 (BTA) - Tens of thousands of Socialists and supporters of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) gathered at Mount Bouzloudja on Saturday to celebrate the 124th anniversary of the organized Socialist Movement in Bulgaria.

The rally was mottoed "For the people! Justice and solidarity!" The oldest attending person was 105-year-old Asen Kostov, who has spent 85 years in the Socialist Movement, and the youngest one was the four-month-old daughter of Radina and Yavor Gechev.

Addressing the crowd, BSP Chairman Mihail Mikov said the Socialists are embarking on a "march to local government," referring to the local elections in October. He warned that it will be a tough race. "The rightists are trying to convince everybody that it does not matter whether a policy is left or right. They use every means and resort to deals, payments and vote-buying in order to hold on to power. The problems in the ruling coalition show that the lack of political cohesion and the urge to stay with the coalition just for the sake of power makes it unstable, which is destabilizing for Bulgaria as well," Mikov said.

He noted that the demographic crisis is ruining the nation's prospects.

BSP is a national party which has walked a difficult path over the last year, and although it performed poorly in the latest elections, "it is still the strong, genuine, big, and representative alternative to the current government," he said.

"BSP has every reason to be proud, because last year it organized an attack against an enslaving external debt of 16 billion leva, and because it has defended the right of Bulgarians to have a health care system which does not divide patients into 'socially significant' and 'socially insignificant,'" Mikov said.

Mihail Mirchev, who will bid to become mayor of Sofia, said the elections will be difficult, but BSP can win. "This party is 124 years old, but it is surprisingly young in spirit," Mirchev said.

Party of European Socialists President Sergei Stanishev said BSP is the only European-style alternative to the current Bulgarian government. "Our candidates for mayors and municipal councillors have only one duty: to work for the Bulgarian citizens," Stanishev said. Describing Bulgaria as a drying tree, he said economic activities are dying out, unemployment is soaring, and there is no social justice. "Only the Socialists can change that direction," he said. The Socialists should "mobilize and conduct a man-to-man campaign in order to make the people believe in the future again," he urged.

Stanishev went on to say that the EU ideal of peace, mutual respect and solidarity has been shaken, leaving many people frustrated and desperate. "The mission of the European Socialists is to change Europe, bring it back to its social, human beginnings, so that everyone can see a future for themselves. To do that, we need strong national parties," he said.

Before the celebrations, Mikov paid tribute to those who died in the 1877 Battle of Shipka (waged near Mount Bouzloudja) for the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman Rule, the BSP press office reported. He asked everyone to remember the Bulgarian, Russian, Romanian and Finnish soldiers who died for the freedom of Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Flowers and wreaths were laid at the Shipka Memorial by members of the BSP National Council and the BSP-Left Bulgaria parliamentary group, and municipal and regional BSP leaders. Romanian parliamentarians also attended the commemoration.