On 8 August the leaderships of the leading left-wing parties in Bulgaria, BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) and ABV (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival) agreed to launch a single contender in the presidential race. They nominated the ex-commander of the Air Force, General Rumen Radev. Seen as a nomination favored by new BSP leader Cornelia Ninova, the general tuned out acceptable for the ABV leadership because he embodies the idea of neutralizing the aggressive policy line against Russia. By the way, PM Boyko Borissov has also recently taken a course of playing down this policy.

Two weeks ago, during talks focused on the nomination, the general's candidature for the Presidency triggered a divorcement of BSP and ABV with another left-wing group - Movement 21. The former BSP member and leader of the movement Tatyana Doncheva walked out of the talks claiming that Radev's nomination had been imposed by lobbyists for the arms trade. The candidature faced a lukewarm reception even from part of the BSP. Some of its members saw it as forcefully imposed by the new party leadership.

However, two weeks later the plans for a joint left-wing nomination have vanished into thin air. The BSP collective leadership has rejected the coalition agreement for the presidential elections proposed by ABV on grounds that the latter party has insisted on equality with BSP while lacking enough voter support. According to unofficial sources ABV has also demanded joint action for possible early elections which is unacceptable for BSP. The BSP has also disagreed with the demand to nominate a vice presidential candidate from ABV. Statements released by the two parties suggest that compromise is unlikely. The BSP has said it is through with ABV, and in turn ABV has explained it will join the race with its own nominations, which unlike the one of Gen. Rumen Radev will be more popular. Does ABV possibly mean reviving the nomination of its leader Georgi Parvanov, who has already had two presidential terms, and his deputy in the party Ivaylo Kalfin running for vice president?

The problems in the left-wing space on the eve of the presidential race are analogous to the problems troubling the right-wing party spectrum. The parties in the Reformist Bloc have also failed to agree so far on a joint candidate in the presidential elections. Until recently there were speculations about a joint nomination of the reformist Bloc with the ruling party GERB but there have been no statements to confirm these speculations.

At this stage the ruling party GERB has kept silent and has stuck to its vow to announce its nomination in September. However it is already clear that GERB benefits from the developments in both the left-wing and the right-wing parties.

DPS (the predominantly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms) has also opted for silence. Many analysts recall that all presidents in Bulgaria's post-communist history have been elected with DPS support. Also, the Movement has hardly given up its role as a balancing factor in Bulgarian politics. It usually plays this role at the final stage of the presidential elections when it is there to tip the balance to the benefit of someone else's contender.  It is however a bit early to tell whether it will play this famous role once again.

English Daniela Konstantinova