site.btaUPDATED Acting Socialist Leader Sees Two Options for Party: to Be Mere Witnesses of Political Processes or to Try to Participate

Meeting with President Rumen Radev Tuesday as part of political consultations, the acting leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Atanas Zafirov, said that his party can either just settle into the comfortable role of opposition and statically observe the current difficult political situation in the country from the sidelines or "try to participate in these processes by being realistic and being aware of the results of these elections."

Zafirov pointed out that the BSP would try to be a "conductor of dialogue". 

"Our collective bodies are adamant that we cannot participate in any form of governance with GERB," he underlined.

Speaking with the Socialist delegation, the President said that several possible approaches to solving the political jigsaw in Bulgaria has taken shape during the consultations thus far: from a minority government, as the first mandate-bearer expressed his intention after failing to form a sufficiently pronounced majority in Parliament, through an expert government to a clear anti-GERB-MRF (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) coalition.

Radev asked if BSP would support any of these options or if the party was ready to present a more ambitious plan if the third mandate came to fruition. 

He acknowledged that despite the challenging moment the BSP finds itself in, they are the oldest party in the legislature. The President was referring to ongoing turbulences in the party leadership.