site.btaBSP Acting Chair Zafirov on Ninova's Expulsion: Good Lesson for People Who Dare to Put Themselves Above Party

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) acting chair Atanas Zafirov commented on the expulsion of outgoing chair Korneliya Ninova and other party members at the Sunday meeting of the BSP National Council. Zafirov said that the decision of the Council is "a good lesson for anyone who dares to put themselves above the party and treat it like inheritance". 

"The BSP has proved that it has enough defence mechanisms when foreign bodies try to influence the normal course of processes in the party," he said. 

Zafirov was adamant that a parallel between the situation in the BSP and in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) is "absolutely untenable". In his words, there are no emotions and nothing is personal. 

He stressed that the motives for each excluded person were separate, which is why the votes were held separately. "In general, they include failure to implement a decision of the National Council, failure to implement a decision of the Executive Bureau, de facto suspension of the work of the party, attempted sabotage, declaration of registration of lists," Zafirov noted. Also excluded are Georgi Svilenski, Ivan Chenchev and Krum Donchev.

Zafirov said that the National Council had instructed Korneliya Ninova to withdraw her authorization to Ivan Chenchev and Georgi Svilenski, and to authorize the acting chairman to represent the party before third parties. 

"This is the main motive that puts at risk the registration of the BSP in these elections, namely the presence of Korneliya Ninova in the current status in court," Zafirov stressed. He showed a draft authorization presented to Ninova, which he said she had refused to sign. "Today she once again refused to implement an explicit decision of the National Council, which was an additional motive for imposing this most severe measure of party influence - expulsion from the party," Zafirov said. 

"The declarations from her side that, despite all that is going on, the lists and the party will be registered are a grave provocation to the whole party, to the decisions of our collective bodies. Through the media, I appeal to all socialists to be aware that any participation in petitions, lists and everything else, by people excluded from the party, will be considered a provocation to the party and will be considered illegitimate," Zafirov added. He said the party would refer the matter to the Prosecution Service if anyone attempted to take illegal registration actions. 

He accused those expelled on Sunday of "thwarting the consolidation of the left, sabotaging the left unity and poor performance of the BSP in the upcoming elections". 

There is no possibility that the BSP will run in the elections with more than one list, Zafirov said.

Referring to the socialists who gathered earlier in the day in support of Ninova in front of the headquarters, he stressed that their demonstration was a "farce", and that they were transported in cars from several nearby regions of the country.