BSP will appear again in a coalition format in the elections with the other left-wing parties and coalitions. And I am sure that we will achieve a better result than in the past elections. The left has a past, but it also has a future. This was stated by the deputy chairman of the Centennial Party and chairman of the Sofia structure, Ivan Takov, in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.
He did not deny, but did not confirm whether he would accept to become the leader of the BSP, but he is categorical that the situation and the political picture at the moment are fundamentally different from that in the fall of 2024.
In "Nedelya 150" Takov categorically denied the rumors that the BSP will merge into the presidential project:
"The BSP will not merge anywhere. We have a past with President Radev. We have proposed him twice and he was elected twice with the votes of the BSP. We have yet to see whether there will be a political project, where it will stand and what values it will profess."
The leader of the Sofia structure of the BSP explained that there can be no talk of internal opposition in the party, nor of internal confrontation.
"There was something that had to happen and it happened, to have a congress before the elections. It was important for our members, sympathizers and for the socialists, and yesterday we heard them at the National Council. We discussed, analyzed and are going to a congress. Not only will we demand the resignation of Chairman Atanas Zafirov, but this is also one of the points for terminating the powers of the current chairman and electing a new one. The situation requires it, not the city organization or Takov. These are the majority of voices that we need to listen to. Of course, this will be decided by the congress, it may decide that there will be no replacement, although I doubt it, we need a completely new charge for the elections", commented Ivan Takov.
And he pointed out that "we need to interrupt what is currently going on as a line – "the party fought to enter the National Assembly":
"There is no such thing, the party must and will achieve a good result in the next elections, I hope higher than in 2024, but for this we need an honest analysis of our participation in the government, in the National Assembly and a new platform for the upcoming elections."
The Deputy Chairman of the Centennial admitted that according to objective indicators, the BSP is on its way to becoming a political outsider.
"That is why I say that we need this congress and this new charge for the elections. Otherwise, in general, the BSP's participation in power, yesterday and the National Council gave a positive assessment to our ministers. But this analysis, which must be presented at the congress, will also show the mistakes made, because not everything is positive and we must admit that", Takov also commented.
According to him, the negative aspect of the BSP's participation in the government is "the decision to enter with our recent opponents such as GERB and ITN into a government that we knew would be complicated":
"But this is the responsible attitude of the BSP and it has always been this way, because the BSP-OL entered instead of standing on the sidelines and watching the state fall apart. Our goal was to reach a social budget that would increase the incomes of socially significant and vulnerable groups. We made good proposals, but the government resigned before that happened, which had a negative effect on both the participants in the government and on us."
Takov reminded that the situation is now fundamentally different from that of a year ago and "that is why a change in the party's platform and messages is necessary":
"The direction is clear - protection of workers, young people and pensioners, this is our path and we should not deviate, but we need a completely new concept for governing the state, which we can present to the voters."