site.btaMembers, Supporters of ABV Elect Party Leader

Members, Supporters of ABV Elect Party Leader

Sofia, April 25 (BTA) - The left-wing ABV held internal
elections for party leader on Saturday. There are three
candidates: outgoing leader Georgi Purvanov, the head of the
party's municipal organization in Rousse (on the Danube),
Steliyan Stefanov, and Pazardjik Regional Governor Trendafil
Velichkov. The election results will be announced at the party's
National Conference on Sunday, said Deputy Prime Minister and
ABV Deputy Floor Leader Ivailo Kalfin.

He said, quoted by his party, that he voted so as to show that
there is another way to develop the party democracy in Bulgaria:
a direct democracy and a democracy which does not involve
selected civil servants and party nobles. He described the
internal vote as an experiment and expressed the hope that it
will be successful. Kalfin also said that Sunday's National
Conference is aimed at consolidating the party's composition and
formulating clearly its goals.

Taking a question on the forthcoming presidential elections and
a possible joint candidate of ABV and the Bulgarian Socialist
Party (BSP), Kalfin said that a joint candidate is absolutely
obligatory, as long as narrow party interests do not prevail.
"If BSP expect that they will choose the candidate and we will
run after him without having held talks, this [joint nomination]
cannot happen," he noted.

After he cast his vote, ABV outgoing leader Purvanov said he is
satisfied that the direct elections, the first of their kind in
the Left, are a sign of the need of direct democracy in the
individual parties, the ABV press centre reported.

Purvanov forecast that following his party's example, from now
onwards it will be necessary ever more often to elect a party
leader through direct elections, as well as to hold internal
party referenda on various topics.

Regarding the forthcoming local elections, Purvanov said that
ABV should rely on eligible candidates. In a large number of
cases, the party will participate primarily with its own
candidate lists, with the exception of mixed lists. He once
again underscored that he supports the interaction within the
Left and expressed the confidence that sooner or later the
Left's unification will become a fact.