site.btaKorneliya Ninova Found Ineligible to Bid for Third Term as Socialist Party Leader

Korneliya Ninova, who resigned as leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) over its unsatisfactory performance in the June 9 snap parliamentary elections, may not be re-elected for a third term in office after the party's control committee stated on Saturday that any BSP member has the right to serve no more than two consecutive full terms as leader, the BSP press office reported. Eighteen out of 31 members of the control committee were present at the meeting.

The limit of two consecutive full terms also applies to the BSP chapters and control bodies below national level.

Ninova has served out two consecutive terms as chairperson of the BSP. The authority which will be in charge of admitting eligible candidates to the election of BSP chairperson, to be conducted through direct voting by all party members, should make sure that Ninova is not admitted, the control committee decided unanimously.

After Ninova's resignation earlier in June, the BSP National Council appointed Atanas Zafirov as acting chairperson of the party. A full election season is beginning in the BSP, to end with a party congress in November.

By another decision of the control committee on Saturday, Ivan Takov was reinstated as chairperson of the BSP Sofia chapter. This is based on the fact that the early launch of the BSP Sofia election season was illegitimate because it was approved in the absence of quorum at the National Council. The whole City Council of BSP Sofia and the leaders of the 24 borough chapters in the capital remain the same as before the illegitimate decision that the National Council made about BSP Sofia on February 25, the control committee said.