The “internal opposition” to Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Kornelia Ninova suffered a reverse as a special congress voted against a bid to add to the agenda a proposal to revert to a former rule that the leader is elected by the congress instead of by the party as a whole.
There has been turbulence within the BSP of late from internal opponents who point to the failure of
Ninova, leader since May 2016, to take the party to election victories, and who criticise her for her strident criticism of Bulgaria’s coalition government failing to turn into people seeing the BSP as an alternative.
The BSP, the second-largest political party after the last parliamentary election in 2014, is being overhauled under its chair Korneliya Ninova, who took over last spring.
The congress approved new rules putting a cap on lawmakers' terms and changing the way leaders are elected.
Under the new rules, put forward by Ninova, a BSP member who has served 12 years as lawmakers will not be included in election tickets.
Separately, the BSP leader will be elected by the entire party, rather than at a congress as suggested by the current procedure.
In addition, a leader will not be allowed to serve for more than two successive terms.
Political analysis by Plamen Asenov.
