Ex Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev appears to be in a stronger position to retain the leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party vis-a-vis former President Georgi Parvanov.

Stanishev, who has chaired the Socialists since 2002, and is the acting interim President of the Party of European Socialists, is to face Parvanov in the BSP leadership battle on May 19-20, 2012.

The press center of the Socialist Party announced Wednesday that Sergey Stanishev (Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 2005-2009) has received a total of 160 nominations for the chairmanship of the formation vs. only 69 nominations for Georgi Parvanov (President of Bulgaria in 2002-2012).

A total of 262 BSP units in Bulgaria have held internal caucuses, with 87 of them nominating only Stanishev, and 8 nominating only Parvanov.

The news about breakdown of leadership nominations precedes the 48th Congress of the Bulgarian Socialist Party scheduled for May 19-20, when the delegates will have to make a choice between Georgi Parvanov and his former protégé Sergey Stanishev.

Parvanov chaired the BSP in 1997-2001, until he got elected President and eventually served two five-year terms (2002-2012); he promoted Stanishev as his successor, who has been chairing the Socialists even since; in 2005-2009, Stanishev served as Prime Minister in charge of the government of the three-way coalition, which included BSP, ex Tsar and PM Simeon Saxe-Coburg's party NMSP, and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS).

Stanishev has recently criticized his opponent for the party leadership, ex President (2002-2012) Georgi Parvanov, for making "self-destructive" hints of collaboration with the ruling GERB party of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, while Parvanov has encouraged Stanishev to seek the permanent Presidency of the Party of European Socialists, apparently hoping to divert him from the domestic leadership battle.

Stanishev, however, has made it clear that he will seek to become elected as the chief of the European Socialists only if he retains his chairmanship at the BSP.