Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov has convened a national summit to found a new political movement.
After having revealed his plans to found a new political movement, Mr Parvanov will hold the first official meeting today, November 11. The movement’s name is going to be ‘Alternative for Bulgarian Revival’ (its acronym being the first three letters of the Bulgarian alphabet) and is to include representatives from several sectors of society as well as politics.
Despite the fact that president Parvanov stressed that a participation in the movement would not require a member to neglects one’s own party, it is widely regarded to be the forerunner of a party which will then represent Mr Parvanov’s new political platform and instrument to hold on to some of his power (his second term as president ends next year and another re-election is not possible). Mr Parvanov had previously been leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, therefore many of former socialist government officials are expected to join the movement. Nevertheless, only the socialist MEP Ivaylo Kalfin has definitely confirmed his support while national deputies of the Bulgarian Socialist party denied any involvement.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared the foundation of this movement would only weaken the opposition and not present a danger to the government. The chairman of the right-wing nationalistic ‘Ataka’ party (which currently holds 21 of the 240 seats in the Bulgarian National Assembly) on the other hand proposed to impeach the president as his involvement in the formation of the movement would violate the constitution. Article 95 II of the Bulgarian constitution forbids the president to perform other state, economic or public activities apart from his duties as well as the involvement in the leadership of a political party. As the ABV is neither a political party nor is Mr Parvanov enlisted in its official leadership an impeachment procedure would, however, no chances of success
The Office of the Bulgarian President in Sofia - (c) by Philipp Köker 2010
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