Roumen Ovcharov, one of the most recognisable faces in the former ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), has said he does not feel he is the person to improve the party's standing.

Ovcharov made the statement on public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on February 5 2010 a day after he decided to withdraw his resignation as head of the BSP's Sofia unit.

Earlier, in October 2009, Ovcharov said he was ready to resign following the BSP's loss at the 2009 elections for Parliament which sent it into opposition. However, on February 4 2010, he said that his resignation had not triggered the reaction he had expected, namely to stimulate a deeper change in the party leadership.

"The change in the BSP did not happen as expected," Ovcharov told BNT. He was thought to be referring to former prime minister Sergei Stanishev,  re-elected as the BSP's leader on October 18 2009 in a snap election he himself called.

According to Ovcharov, Sofia municipal councilor Georgi Kadiev could be one of the new faces to revive the BSP's fortunes.

Kadiev was BSP's candidate in the 2009 snap elections for Sofia mayor which he predictably lost to former education minister Yordanka Fandukova from GERB, the ruling party of Prime Minister Boiko Borissov.

On February 2 2010, Ovcharov was quoted by private Darik Radio broadcaster as saying that the current BSP leadership reminded him of the politburo of the former Bulgarian Communist Party.

He was answering criticism from Stanishev that Ovcharov's words on the poor state of the party only helped BSP's main political opponents - GERB.

Ovcharov said he will work towards holding a new BSP congress that will elect another leader.