site.btaReformist Bloc's Congress Proves No-Go, Entity Fails to Elect Single Leader, Launches Election Campaign

Reformist Bloc's Congress Proves No-Go,
Entity Fails to Elect Single Leader,
Launches Election Campaign


Sofia, September 14 (BTA) - The election of a single leader of
the Reformist Bloc, which was supposed to take place at a
congress of the Right-wing alliance here on Sunday, was
ultimately postponed and the event metamorphosed into a formal
launch of the Bloc's campaign for the October 5 early
parliamentary elections. "Not all party leaderships are as bold
as their constituents," Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader
Radan Kanev said. Union of Democratic Forces leader Bozhidar
Lukarski explained that a consensus had not been reached on the
rules for electing a chairperson.

The next congress is scheduled for November 10, when the 25th
anniversary of the start of democratic changes in Bulgaria will
be marked.

Asked whether there is a risk of the Reformist Bloc falling
apart, Kanev said that the future of the Bloc will be decided by
 voters on October 5. "Personal ambitions don't matter at all,
what matters is the desire of more than a million Bulgarians to
live under new rules, in new conditions, governed by new faces.
This is a hope that the Reformist Bloc will not betray," Kanev
said. Earlier, he withdrew his candidacy for chairperson of the
Bloc. The other candidate was Lukarski.

The coalition policy that the Reformist will pursue, above all
towards GERB, if they make it to Parliament, is the one
formulated in their pre-election declaration, Kanev recalled.
"When there is a clear policy and scope for change, it must be
defended just as voters' interests," he pointed out. This
implies a short term of office, a clear reform in governance, an
 end to partisan appointments, elections of a Grand National
Assembly so as to do away with the cankers in the prosecution
service, and a government headed by new faces.

"Whether the Reformists will form a government together with
GERB is up to the voters to decide on October 5," Lukarski said
for his part. "We failed to agreed on clear rules for the
election of a chairperson, we want to govern the State under
clear rules, and such rules are needed for the election of a
leader, too," he pointed out.

In his opinion, the Bloc will be better prepared for the
congress on November 10 and voters will not be demotivated to go
 to the polls because of a lack of understanding among the
leaderships of the separate constituents of the Reformist Bloc.
SN/LG

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