Movement For Rights And Freedoms

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (Движение за права и свободи, ''Dviženie za Prava i Svobodi'') is a centrist ethnic Political Party in Bulgaria , based in the Turkish minority. The MRF is a member of the Liberal International and considers itself a Liberal Party , probably like the Swedish People's Party , the party of the Swedish minority of Finland .

HISTORY

LEADERS

It has been chaired by Ahmed Dogan since its establishment in 1990.

ELECTORAL RESULTS

October, 1991 local elections

16 October, 1999 local elections

17 June, 2001 legislative elections

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms won in the 2001 elections 7.5 % of the popular vote and 21 out of 240 seats. It subsequently joined the government led by former Bulgarian king Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of the National Movement Simeon II .

26 October, 2003 local elections

25 June, 2005 legislative elections

At the last Legislative Elections , 25 June 2005, it increased to 13.7% of the popular vote and 33 out of 240 seats. See also Bulgarian Parliamentary Election, 2005
The last (March'2006) political surveys show a significant decreasing of MRF popularity down to 8%.

29 October, 2005 partial mayoral elections

GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION

CONTROVERSIES

As a party representing the main ethnic minority in the parliament and in the government, just like the Democratic Union Of Hungarians In Romania , its Hungarian counterpart in Romania , the MRF is the favorite target of Bulgarian nationalists and of the tabloids and other sensationalist tv channels that sometimes try letting people think it, and the whole Turkish minority, is some sort of a finger of Al-Qaeda in the Balkans (see e.g. Albena Shkodrova and Iva Roudnikova, Bulgarian Muslim Infighting Fuels Fundamentalist Fears, Balkan Crisis Report, No 519, 07-Oct-04 ).

Ethnic nature

Although the MRF has been part of Bulgarian political life since 1990, it is still considered by nationalists, such as the far-right National Union Attack , to be anti-constitutional since it is mainly an ethnic-based organization.

According to a Bulgarian law that ought to be suppressed as antidemocratic when the country will join the European Union in 2007 , such organizations are theoretically prohibited, as are the religion-based parties whereas there has been a 'Bulgarian Christian Coalition' competing for parliamentary elections since 1997, and again in 2005, without any political upheaval (it usually gets less than 1% of the votes).

This question was however ''de jure'' settled by the Bulgarian Constitutional Court in 1992, which issued a legal decision favorable to the MRF constitutionality following a complaint filed by the rightist United Democratic Forces party. Another ethnic party, OMO "Ilinden" - PIRIN, which aimed at representing ethnic Macedonians (which do not even exist according to Bulgarian nationalists), was banned in 2000 by the same court ( International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Declaring a Macedonian-based Party Unconstitutional, Bulgarian Constitutional Court Violates Basic Political Rights, 01 March 2000 ). The Euroroma list was however allowed to take part in the 2005 elections, even if 'Roma' clearly indicates that this is an ethnic Roma ('Gypsy') party.

More recently, Antonina Zheliazkova, head of the Centre for Interethnic Relations in Sofia, said about Ahmed Dogan that ''He has been working hard to open up the party to all citizens and has encouraged the MRF's supporters to be free to vote for non-ethnic parties'' ( Milena Borden, Bulgaria: Turkish Party Urged to Rethink Policies, Sofia News Agency, 17 May 2005 ).

Other Turkish political factions

At present there are three other tiny Turkish political factions that oppose the MRF’s politics. These groups - which united to form the Balkan Democratic League - are the Movement of the Democratic Wing (DDK), led by Osman Oktai; the Party for Democracy and Justice (PDS), led by Nejim Genchev; and the Union of the Bulgarian Turks (SBT), led by Seihan Turkan ( Milena Borden, op. cit. ).

However, these movements, as well as the National Movement for Rights and Freedoms, member of a Social-Democratic coalition ('Rose coalition') failed to secure any elected representative, including through coalitions with non-ethnic parties, whereas the MRF became the third main Bulgarian party at the June 2005 parliamentary elections and entered a three-parties coalition in August with the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the National Movement Simeon II .

Rigging the votes

The MRF was severely criticized by Bulgarian nationalist party Attack as well as mainstream rightwing parties such as Democrats For A Strong Bulgaria and the Union Of Democratic Forces and even by MRF coalition partners of the National Movement Simeon II to have manipulated the vote in the June 2005 elections at places. As with previous elections special buses were organized to come from Turkey with people having double citizenship who would vote. However, there were allegations that other buses were hurried from Bulgarian regions with compact Turkish population to other regions where MRF support was weaker, these voters casting their ballot twice or more but at different places.

The National Movement Simeon II soon dropped their accusations after it became clear that they were to form a government not only with the socialists, but also with the MRF.

Liberal party opposing privatization

In February 2005, the MRF opposed the privatisation of Bulgaria's largest tobacco company, Bulgartabak, which was backed by the government and the European Union, on the grounds that the industry traditionally employs ethnic Turks. The resulting crisis led to the resignation of vice premier Lidia Shuleva ( Milena Borden, op. cit. ).

Some of the MRF members are suspected to be involved in several corruption scandals last months. Many Bulgarian cities and villages are under the Turkish ethnic management, and many critical notes from ordinary people also from the known politics and newspapers concerning the predomination of the Turkish language over the Bulgarian one (in the mentioned regions – such as Kurdjalii, Razgrad, Dobrich)are taking part in the recent days.

SEE ALSO

EXTERNAL LINK

Movement for Rights and Freedoms official site

Information About

Movement For Rights And Freedoms