Who Will Take Over the Bulgarian Socialist Party?

A Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Congress due to result in the election of a new leader on Sunday after Sergey Stanishev has decided to step down.

Stanishev, currently President of the Party of European Socialist (PES) and former Prime Minister in the 2005-2009 cabinet, has headed one of Bulgaria's oldest parties for 14 years, and his legacy has so far had a controversial reception. While some hail his contribution to the party and point his PES office as a proof for his importance, others vigorously dispute any positive role he might have hand, placing an emphasis on the number of defeats in a row the BSP has suffered under his presidency. Others remind his cabinet made a number of deals which led some experts to allege his involvement into business circles with the participation of his wife, Monika.

Will all that said, it is important to keep an eye on the contenders to replace him on July 27.

Dragomir Stoynev

Born on May 6, 1976. The outgoing Economy and Energy Minister holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France; Master in Economics from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; specializations in Germany, France and the US.

Stoynev's political career started as he became an economic adviser to Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev (2005-2009). He also wrote economic reports for President (2002-2011), and also Stanishev's predecessor as BSP Chairman, Georgi Parvanov, between 2006 and 2007.

Stoynev was a member of the GERB (2009-2013) Parliament.

He was among the contenders to succeed Stanishev in 2012 (with some describing him as an indirect candidacy of Parvanov) but withdrew from the race.

Over the past weeks he...