Bulgarian Fmr President's Party to Call Poll on Presidential Republic

President (2002-2011) Georgi Parvanov's Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV) is to hold a national referendum on whether the country should be a presidential republic.

Parvanov, who is also a former Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader who split off the socialists to place his own list for this year's European elections, explained the current political system of Bulgaria, the parliamentary republic, needed "corrections", but not ones that should place a "strong hand" on top.

"The idea is that there should be a greater extent of responsibility for what is happening in the state today and in the future. We are witnessing how the ruling majority does not support its government. We are witnesses to an opposition which says one thing in the morning and another in the afternoon, and a Parliament which could not reach quorum. If there is clear responsibility in the state, concentrated in the presidential institution as well, I think the picture would be different," the Bulgarian National Radio quoted Parvanov as saying at ABV's press conference.

Parvanov first announced his intentions to call the referendum at the founding congress of ABV as a party in end-June.

He has already served the maximum limit of two terms in office allowed to a Bulgarian head of state.