Bulgarian Socialist Party

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (Bulgarian: Българска социалистическа партия, romanized: Bŭlgarska sotsialističeska partija), also known as the Centenarian (Bulgarian: Столетницата, romanized: Stoletničata),[14] is a social-democratic[2] political party in Bulgaria and the successor to the Bulgarian Communist Party. It is a member of the Party of European Socialists with a pro-EU stance,[10] although it has taken some Eurosceptic positions and called for an end to EU sanctions against Russia.[9] BSP is also a member of the Socialist International.

Bulgarian Socialist Party Българска социалистическа партия
Leader	Korneliya Ninova
Founder	Dimitar Blagoev
Founded	2 August 1891 (founded) 3 April 1990 (present name)
Preceded by	Bulgarian Communist Party
Headquarters	20 Positano Street, Sofia
Youth wing	Bulgarian Socialist Youth
Membership (2020)	80,236 [1]
Ideology	Social democracy[2] Democratic socialism[3] Social conservatism[3][4][5][6] Left-wing populism[7] Left-wing nationalism[7][8] Pro-Europeanism[9][10] Russophilia[11]
Political position	Centre-left[12] to left-wing[13]
National affiliation	Coalition for Bulgaria
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
International affiliation	Socialist International
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Colors	Red
National Assembly	63 / 240
European Parliament	5 / 17
Municipalities	63 / 265
Website
www.bsp.bg
Politics of Bulgaria Political parties Elections

History

The Bulgarian Socialist Party is recognized as the successor of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party created on 2 August 1891 on Buzludzha peak by Dimitar Blagoev, designated in 1903 as the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (Narrow Socialists) and later as the Bulgarian Communist Party.[15] The party was formed after the political changes of 1989, when the Communist Party abandoned Marxism–Leninism and refounded itself as the "Bulgarian Socialist Party" in April 1990.

The party formed a government after the Constitutional Assembly elections of 1990, but was forced to resign after a general strike that December. A non-partisan government led by Dimitar Popov took over until the next elections in October 1991. In the aftermath the party was confined to opposition. As part of the Democratic Left coalition (forerunner of the Coalition of Bulgaria), it helped form a new government in 1995, headed by BSP leader Zhan Videnov as Prime Minister. Its term ended at the end of 1996, after the country entered into a spiral of hyperinflation, the most serious economic and financial crisis in its recent history. Large-scale demonstrations in the cities and a general strike prevented the formation of a new socialist government.

In 2001, party chairman Georgi Parvanov was elected President of Bulgaria on the second round, defeating incumbent SDS candidate on the second ballot. Parvanov resigned as party chairman and was succeeded by Sergei Stanishev.

After two full terms out of power (1997–2005), the BSP and its allies in the Coalition for Bulgaria won the national elections of 2005 with 31.0% of the vote and formed a coalition government with the centrist party National Movement Simeon II and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS). The cabinet was headed by the prime minister and BSP chairman Sergei Stanishev. In 2006, Georgi Parvanov was reelected president in a landslide, becoming the first Bulgarian president to be reelected directly by the public. In 2007, Bulgaria joined the European Union. Later, the triple-coalition lost millions of Euros of European financial aid in the wake of allegations of widespread political corruption. The cabinet was also unable to react to the encroaching world economic crisis and its term ended with a budget deficit after several successive surplus years.[16]

In the 2009 parliamentary elections, the BSP was defeated by the new conservative party GERB, obtaining 37 out of 240 parliamentary seats (18%), and went into opposition.

In the 2013 parliamentary elections the party took 26.6% of the votes, second behind GERB with 30.5%. Nevertheless, the party's candidate for prime minister, Plamen Oresharski, and his proposed government were elected with the parliament support of the BSP and the DPS. The appointment of the controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski as head of the state security agency DANS, sparked large-scale protests on 14 June.[17] Demonstrations urging the government to step down continued until the government resigned in July of the following year.

Membership

The party is the largest in Bulgaria by number of members, as of 2016 having 105,000 members, down from 130,000 in 2013,[18] 150,000 in 2012, 210,000 in 2009, 250,000 in 1996 and around 1 million members during late Communist rule (1946-1990).[19][20]

List of chairmen

No.	Name (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Term of office
1	Aleksandar Lilov (1933–2013)		3 April 1990	12 December 1991
2	Zhan Videnov (1959– )		12 December 1991	21 December 1996
3	Georgi Parvanov (1957–)		21 December 1996	5 December 2001
4	Sergei Stanishev (1966–)		5 December 2001	27 July 2014
5	Mihail Mikov (1960–)		27 July 2014	8 May 2016
6	Korneliya Ninova (1969–)		8 May 2016	Incumbent

Electoral history

National Assembly

The following is a summary of BSP's results in legislative elections for the Bulgarian National Assembly.

Election	In coalition with	Votes won	Percentage	Seats won	Change	Government
		(Coalition totals)		(Coalition totals)
1990	None	2,887,766	47.15 (#1)	211 / 400		Government
1991	Pre-Electoral Union	1,836,050	33.1 (#2)	106 / 240	105	Opposition
1994	Democratic Left	2,262,943	43.50 (#1)	125 / 240	19	Government
1997	Democratic Left	939,308	22.1 (#2)	58 / 240	67	Opposition
2001	Coalition for Bulgaria	783,372	17.15 (#3)	48 / 240	10	Opposition
2005	Coalition for Bulgaria	1,129,196	31.0 (#1)	82 / 240	34	Government
2009	Coalition for Bulgaria	748,114	17.7 (#2)	40 / 240	42	Opposition
2013	Coalition for Bulgaria	942,541	26.61 (#2)	84 / 240	44	Government
2014	BSP - Left Bulgaria	505,527	15.40 (#2)	39 / 240	45	Opposition
2017	BSP for Bulgaria	955,490	27.20 (#2)	80 / 240	41	Opposition

European Parliament

European Parliament

Election	# of seats won	# of total votes	% of popular vote	rank
2007	5 / 18	414,786	21.41%	2nd
2009	4 / 18	476,618	18.50%	2nd
2014	4 / 17	424,037	18.93%	2nd
2019	5 / 17	474,160	24.26%	2nd

References

1. "Вотът в БСП: Нинова печели втори мандат с 43 228 гласа, 7 914 социалисти подкрепят Добрев" [The vote in BSP: Ninova wins a second term with 43,228 votes, 7,914 socialists voted for Dobrev]. Dnevnik. 13 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Bulgaria". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
3. Siaroff, Alan (2018). Comparative European Party Systems. Routledge. The BSP describes itself as a modern socialist party, and its policies do espouse the ideas of democratic socialism and the social market economy, but at the same time it has ... been somewhat socially conservative
4. "Istanbul Convention spells trouble for Bulgaria's ruling coalition". EURACTIV. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
5. "Arrests as homophobes try to disrupt Sofia Pride parade". The Sofia Globe. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
6. "Leader of Bulgaria's opposition party turns down Pride invite because she's against same-sex marriage". PinkNews. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
7. "Triumph des Populismus - Bulgarien hat ein neues Parlament". Heise online. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
8. "Politics After the Political". Jacobin. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
9. Barzachka, Nina (25 April 2017). "Bulgaria's government will include far-right nationalist parties for the first time". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
10. Tsolova, Tsvetelia (17 March 2017). "Socialists say Bulgaria pays high price for EU's Russia sanctions". Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
11. "Bulgaria: Caught Between Moscow and Brussels - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". novinite.com. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
12. "Bulgarian Socialist Party registered for participation in the local elections". Bulgarian National Television.
13. "Bulgarian government faces no-confidence vote amid protests". Associated Press. 15 July 2020.
14. "Столетницата избра Бриго за София" [Centenarians chose Sofia Brigo] (in Bulgarian). Dnes.bg. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
15. "История" (in Bulgarian). Българска социалистическа партия. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
16. Bulgaria: Bulgaria's Budget Deficit Tops BGN 386 M in January–July 2009 – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency. Novinite.com (1 September 2009). Retrieved 23 October 2011.
17. Bulgarians protests over media magnate as security chief, Reuters, June 14, 2013
18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
19. "500 000 Bulgarians are members of parties".
20. "Труд". Труд. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.

External links

• Official website (in Bulgarian)