BULGARIA: COALITION PARTIES TREAD WATER, BARELY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 000759 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL BU SUBJECT: BULGARIA: COALITION PARTIES TREAD WATER, BARELY REF: SOFIA 633 Classified By: Ambassador Nancy McEldowney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Bulgaria's three party coalition is gasping forward to 2009 parliamentary elections. In its November party congress, the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) papered over deepening cracks between President Parvanov and PM Stanishev. Facing a restive, old-think party base, Stanishev scaled back attempts to put modernizing technocrats in key positions and acceded to tainted party barons retaining pivotal roles. Determined to avoid congress fireworks, the BSP heads to 2009 bracing for electoral losses and an internal reckoning between divisive factions. Meanwhile ex-king Simeon's party granted the leader unprecedented authority even as it sinks into polling oblivion. Surviving by calculation and legislative vote counting, NDSV plays an internal spoiler role within the coalition, frustrating and annoying its partners, but not ready to bolt and force early elections. The ethnic Turkish MRF has been rattled by the alleged suicide of its chief of staff in October. Universally despised as corrupt, but respected for its power quotient and led by a political svengali, MRF will remain a key swing factor in future coalition formation as its machine organization will turn out its voters. Facing a dreary electoral landscape, few ordinary Bulgarians exhibit much political enthusiasm. The EU's punch )- taking away 220 million Euros in assistance funding -- has fed public cynicism that the governing parties have a grip on fixing Bulgaria's problems. End Summary. BSP Congress )- Looking Backward, Thinking Small -------------- -- ¶2. (C) PM Stanishev faced no challenge at the November 22-23 congress of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which re-elected him as party chairman with support from 809 out of 853 delegates. Stanishev was the only candidate for the post, a novelty for post-communist BSP congresses which are usually filled with drama and leadership battles. This time the only criticism came from the weakened hardline "leftist" faction that accused Stanishev of dragging the party to the right and failing to live up to his pre-election promises of a social government. In a nearly hour-long speech, Stanishev pitched two themes: putting aside factional battles; and consolidating against Sofia mayor Borissov's poll-leading GERB, saying that a GERB-led government would risk Bulgaria's stability and plunge the country into the unknown. The PM worked hard to appease major BSP lobbies, but the cease-fire between rival groups is temporary, with the party still tension-ridden. Stanishev paid a moral price for "unity," rehabilitating two notorious figures -) ex-Minister of Energy Rumen Ovcharov and equally controversial ex-Minister of Interior Roumen Petkov. The PM said that the two )- who both resigned amid high-profile scandals )- were unjustly accused as proven by subsequent court rulings. ¶3. (C) The congress elected a 181-member National Council, a plenary body that approves party policies. Major party lobbies got solid representation in the Council, with particularly strong showing of Ovcharov's lobby. Stanishev's lobby also did well and he increased his influence in the Council, although not as much as he had hoped. Old faces were joined by newly-elected Georgi Gergov, a controversial businessman and major sponsor of Parvanov. The true test for the PM's strength will be his choice of a 20-member Executive Bureau, expected to be approved within a month. The BSP adopted a new program, packed with orthodox Socialist ideology. It approved a platform for the 2009 elections for European and national parliament, which identifies the "new right-wing populists" as the BSP's main political rival. Both documents are aimed at the party base and have little, if any, practical value. The congress changed two party statutes, limiting the term of leaders of local and national party structures to two four-year mandates. Although not retroactive, the amendment will have a positive impact on the BSP in the long-term, removing old generation regional party chiefs who have established their own fiefdoms. In short, this was a cautious, defensive strategy by the PM and key leaders, appealing to a weakened and alienated base and balancing the chief factions. BSP has no forward leaning message and seemingly no energy. Ex-King Simeon's NDSV )- Running on Empty -------------- ¶4. (C) As expected, the October congress of the National Movement for Simeon re-elected the ex-King as party leader and legitimized controversial June 2007 decisions (which led many of its MP's to launch a new party). The party renamed SOFIA 00000759 002 OF 002 itself as National Movement for Stability and Progress (which in Bulgarian retains the abbreviation NDSV),dropping the ex-King from the party's name. The conference further boosted Simeon's powers to rule the party unilaterally, adopting party statutes that allow him to name 11 out of the 19 members of the party's ruling body, the Political Council. With popular support under two percent, NDSV opted against a bold move to exit the unpopular three-party coalition. NDSV now plays an internal rebel role, burning its already puny political capital, as it seeks to assert its identity ahead of elections. Even with its small, dedicated base and very capable ministers, NDSV is a party flirting with electoral oblivion and the congress did nothing to improve its fortunes. MRF ) Sticking to the Tried, Tested, and Detested -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) The ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) has hit a bumpy patch. The apparent suicide of MRF leader Ahmed Dogan's chief of staff in October sparked frenzied media speculation about MRF internal tensions, corrupt deals and business schemes, and cozy )- or antagonistic connections )- with security and intelligence services. Autocratic leader Dogan (and former secret service collaborator),in charge since launching MRF in 1990, seemed to lose his footing temporarily after the tragedy. But he reasserted control over Bulgaria's least transparent and most monolithic parliamentary party, and damped down purported infighting between deputies Emel Etem and Kassim Dal. The party projected unity in the face of the mounting scandal, rejecting allegations of political motivation behind the suicide and denying allegations of illegal party financing. Circling the wagons, it is stonewalling an investigation into party financing, further staining its image. But none of this will have any electoral impact as the vaunted MRF party machine will enjoy an almost complete monopoly over the Turkish vote. That reality means that MRF will remain a factor to be reckoned with in any post-election scenario for coalition formation, distasteful as that now is to most other parties. ¶6. (C) Comment: With the governing coalition parties having no fresh messages or programs, and key opposition parties offering few new ideas, Bulgarians are in for a long slog to June-July 2009 parliamentary elections. The EU decision to permanently withhold 220 million Euros as punishment for Bulgaria's corruption and lack of internal accountability only deepened public disgust. But that has not, at least not yet, translated into clean up action. Bulgaria has sustained its key international commitments, but it's defensively looking inward. If the economy takes a major hit owing to international financial turbulence (on which many in government are in denial),it will have a very rough 2009 ride. McEldowney