Bulgaria’s supreme court confirms de-registration of Ninova as representative of socialist party
Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation, in a ruling on September 9, confirmed a Sofia City Court decision cancelling the registration of ousted former Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Kornelia Ninova as representative of the party and placing acting leader Atanas Zafirov in her stead.
This is the latest episode in the fight between the BSP’s acting leadership and a group loyal to Ninova, in the run-up to Bulgaria’s October 27 early parliamentary elections.
The BSP national council ousted Ninova and her loyalists from the BSP when she refused to confer on Zafirov power of attorney to represent the party officially, including in its engagement with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).
After Bulgaria’s June 2024 early parliamentary elections, Ninova submitted her resignation as leader of the BSP after the party’s latest, and worst-ever, catastrophic election performance. As BSP leader, a post she held from 2016, Ninova led her party to a string of defeats, though she was in government for a few months when the BSP participated in a quadripartite governing coalition.
The Supreme Court of Cassation ruling in September 9, made by a three-member bench, is not subject to appeal.
On September 9, after the Supreme Court of Cassation held a hearing in the case but before it issued its ruling, Ninova loyalists went to the CEC to register the BSP for the October elections.
They were acting in terms of authority conferred on them by Ninova. They claimed that they made the move so that the BSP could be registered for the elections in time.
The move was denounced by the acting leadership of the BSP, which intends the party standing in the elections as part of a coalition called BSP-United Left, bringing the party together with a number of minnow leftist parties.
BSP parliamentary group leader Borislav Gutsanov said that the Ninova group was attempting to thwart broad left unification and the creation of a “strong left”.
Gutsanov said that the September 9 registration application was “an attempt to steal the brand from the BSP by three people who have had nothing to do with the BSP for a long time”.
(Archive photo of Ninova: BSP)
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