The Bulgarian Socialist Party has refused to back the demands of its coalition partner, the ultranationalist Ataka, to seek the impeachment of President Rosen Plevneliev.

BSP lawmaker Petar Mutafchiev criticized the President on Monday for what he perceives as his “immoderate and inappropriate” statements regarding the ongoing massive anti-government protests in the country.

However, Mutafchiev said that seeking the impeachment of Plevneliev would be a wrong move that would destabilize the country.

The extremist Ataka party, a key group in the current Parliament, recently demanded that the President is removed from office after he called for new early general elections.

“Early parliamentary elections are the only democratic solution to the crisis we are in. To tell people that new early elections are a dangerous scenario is to tell them that democracy is dangerous,” Plevneliev argued in an address to the nation on Sunday.

The series of anti-government protests in Bulgaria was triggered by the scandalous appointment of controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski as Chair of the State Agency for National Security (DANS).



Although the appointment was revoked, the people went on to demand that the cabinet resign collectively over ties with oligarchs.



