ABV's Ivaylo Kalfin Says He Will Not Run for President

Bourgas, on the Black Sea, April 15 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister Ivaylo Kalfin announced here Friday that he is not going to run for President in the presidential elections later this year.

He said that his ABV party has not picked its candidate yet.

Kalfin was widely seen as a possible candidate in the upcoming presidential race.

He ran for President in 2011 when he lost to GERB's candidate, the present President Rosen Plevneliev, in a second round of voting.

Kalfin's Left-wing ABV has been trying to talk the Bulgarian Socialist Party into nominating a common Left candidate for this year's presidential race but rapprochement does not seem likely at this point.

ABV was established by former Socialist Party leader Georgi Purvanov and includes some former ranking Socialist Party members, including Kalfin himself.

Kalfin was in Bourgas for a discussion on the opportunities offered by the European Social Fund for supporting the tourist sector.