Bulgarian Socialist Party
Bulgarian Socialist Party Българска социалистическа партия | |
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Leader | Korneliya Ninova |
Founder | Dimitar Blagoev |
Founded | 2 August 1891 3 April 1990 (present name) | (founded)
Preceded by | Bulgarian Communist Party |
Headquarters | 20 Positano Street, Sofia |
Youth wing | Bulgarian Socialist Youth |
Membership (2020) | ![]() |
Ideology |
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Political position | Centre-left[12] to left-wing[13] |
National affiliation | BSP for Bulgaria |
European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
International affiliation | Progressive Alliance Socialist International |
European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
Colors | Red |
Slogan | «With care for people» (Bulgarian: «С грижа за хората») |
National Assembly | 36 / 240 |
European Parliament | 5 / 17 |
Municipalities | 63 / 265 |
Website | |
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The Bulgarian Socialist Party (Bulgarian: Българска социалистическа партия, romanized: Balgarska sotsialisticheska partiya), also known as The Centenarian (Столетницата, Stoletnitsata),[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.
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 Sergey 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 Sergey 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 | |
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1 | Aleksandar Lilov (1933–2013) |
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3 April 1990 | 12 December 1991 |
2 | Zhan Videnov (1959– ) |
N/A | 12 December 1991 | 21 December 1996 |
3 | Georgi Parvanov (1957–) |
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21 December 1996 | 5 December 2001 |
4 | Sergey Stanishev (1966–) |
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5 December 2001 | 27 July 2014 |
5 | Mihail Mikov (1960–) |
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27 July 2014 | 8 May 2016 |
6 | Korneliya Ninova (1969–) |
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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 | Coalition | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
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(Coalition totals) | (Coalition totals) | |||||
1990 | None | 2,887,766 | 47.15 (#1) | 211 / 400
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Majority |
1991 | Pre-Electoral Union | 1,836,050 | 33.14 (#2) | 106 / 240
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Opposition |
1994 | Democratic Left | 2,262,943 | 43.50 (#1) | 125 / 240
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Coalition |
1997 | Democratic Left | 939,308 | 22.07 (#2) | 58 / 240
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Opposition |
2001 | Coalition for Bulgaria | 783,372 | 17.15 (#3) | 48 / 240
|
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Opposition |
2005 | Coalition for Bulgaria | 1,129,196 | 30.95 (#1) | 82 / 240
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Coalition |
2009 | Coalition for Bulgaria | 748,114 | 17.70 (#2) | 40 / 240
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Opposition |
2013 | Coalition for Bulgaria | 942,541 | 26.61 (#2) | 84 / 240
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Coalition |
2014 | BSP - Left Bulgaria | 505,527 | 15.40 (#2) | 39 / 240
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Opposition |
2017 | BSP for Bulgaria | 955,490 | 27.20 (#2) | 80 / 240
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Opposition |
Apr 2021 | BSP for Bulgaria | 480,146 | 15.01 (#3) | 43 / 240
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Snap election |
Jul 2021 | BSP for Bulgaria | 365,695 | 13.22 (#3) | 36 / 240
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Snap election |
European Parliament[]
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
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2007 | 414,786 | 21.41 (#2) | 5 / 18
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2009 | 476,618 | 18.50 (#2) | 4 / 18
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2014 | 424,037 | 18.93 (#2) | 4 / 17
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2019 | 474,160 | 24.26 (#2) | 5 / 17
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Symbols and logos[]
Old logo
References[]
- ^ "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.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Bulgaria". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b 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
- ^ "Istanbul Convention spells trouble for Bulgaria's ruling coalition". EURACTIV. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- ^ "Arrests as homophobes try to disrupt Sofia Pride parade". The Sofia Globe. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Triumph des Populismus - Bulgarien hat ein neues Parlament". Heise online . 29 March 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- ^ "Politics After the Political". Jacobin. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Tsolova, Tsvetelia (17 March 2017). "Socialists say Bulgaria pays high price for EU's Russia sanctions". Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- ^ "Bulgaria: Caught Between Moscow and Brussels - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". novinite.com. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "Bulgarian Socialist Party registered for participation in the local elections". Bulgarian National Television.
- ^ "Bulgarian government faces no-confidence vote amid protests". Associated Press. 15 July 2020.
- ^ "Столетницата избра Бриго за София" [Centenarians chose Sofia Brigo] (in Bulgarian). Dnes.bg. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- ^ "История" (in Bulgarian). Българска социалистическа партия. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Bulgarians protests over media magnate as security chief Archived 18 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, June 14, 2013
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "500 000 Bulgarians are members of parties".
- ^ "Труд". Труд. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
External links[]
- Official website
(in Bulgarian)
- 1990 establishments in Bulgaria
- Political parties established in 1990
- Full member parties of the Socialist International
- Party of European Socialists member parties
- Pro-European political parties in Bulgaria
- Social democratic parties in Bulgaria
- Organizations that oppose LGBT rights