Kornelia Ninova resigned as leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party

Kornelia Ninova has resigned as the leader of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), FOCUS News Agency reported on May 28.

Ninova announced her decision to step down as BSP party leader during the opening of the meeting of the National Council of the party.

Ninova called for a congress of the party to launch a procedure for the election of a new BSP leader by direct vote of all party members.

On Tuesday, Ninova proposed that BSP hold an extraordinary congress on 15^th of June to accept her resignation. This proposal was approved by the National Council. Her other suggestion - to adopt rules and deadlines for election of BSP leader by direct vote of all party members – was rejected.

The internal opposition will try at the congress to change the statute and return the old position according to which the party chair is elected by the Congress. However, if this is not the case and the Congress only accepts her resignation, this means that the National Council should get together again and adopt rules for direct vote.

The Socialist leader's resignation comes after Sunday's election of Bulgarian members to the European Parliament, in which the BSP, the main opposition force in the country, was placed second by a wide margin behind the ruling GERB.

We lost the elections, but it is a fact that we are the only party in Bulgaria to see an increase in the number of votes cast in its favour during the European elections: they increased by more than 30,000, Ninova said. The only party that has increased the number of its MEPs, but we lost the elections. I think morality and dignity in politics means the one on the top takes the biggest share of responsibility. That is why today, before the beginning of the meeting of the National Council, I made an address before the agenda was adopted. I submitted my resignation to the National Council, I asked for convening the Congress on June 15, as the Congress was the body that chose me and under our statutes the Congress is the body that should accept my resignation, she added.