THE head of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Nadezhda Mihailova, on August 16 announced a conference for October 1 to appoint the party's new leadership. 
The decision comes after a series of clashes within the UDF in which members blamed each other for massive losses in the June 25 Parliamentary elections. The UDF, part of the United Democratic Forces (UtDF) coalition, won only 20 of the 240 seats in Parliament.
Mihailova made her decision to hold the conference after Nikolai Mladenov, one of her strongest supporters, resigned as spokesman and deputy chairman of the UDF.  
Mladenov said that the UDF failed in its attempt to unite the right-wing parties and had lost the support of the people.
"We didn't manage to stop the controversy inside the party and that appalled most people," he said. "That was our great failure." 
Mihailova refused to take any blame for the election results and said that she would seek another term as UDF leader, seeking the people's trust in the conference. 
"For practical purposes, the present UDF leadership is retired until October 1," Mihailova said.              
Criticism of the present leadership headed by Mihailova started after June 25, when former president Peter Stoyanov (1997-2001), a UDF member, said that responsibility for the losses had to be taken by UDF leaders, referring to Mihailova.  
Another prominent member, former prime minister Philip Dimitrov (November 8 1991 - December 30 1992), also called for a change in policy and leadership.     
The two former UDF leaders said Mihailova failed to unite the country's right-wing parties. In response, Mihailova said that in contrast to Stoyanov and Dimitrov, she wanted the UDF to be more critical of the former National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) cabinet.
Mihailova said that she wanted UDF to take part in the elections independently, but had to agree with the majority demand to enter an election United Democratic Forces (UtDF) coalition with the Democratic Party and the Gergyovden Movement. The coalition eventually fell apart.
The UDF split into small formations after losing the 2001 elections to the NMSII.