Bulgarian supreme court refuses to hear latest appeals by MRF Dogan faction
Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court has declined to proceed with two appeals lodged by Dzhevdet Chakurov, the co-leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) who is loyal to the party’s founder Ahmed Dogan, against decisions by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).
The appeals were lodged against the CEC’s refusal to remove the MRF from Delyan Peevski’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning coalition that is standing in Bulgaria’s October 27 early parliamentary elections.
The other appeal was against the CEC decision to register Peevski’s MRF – New Beginning coalition for the elections.
The court held that Chakurov and Peevski, as co-leaders of the MRF party, have the same rights, may represent the party separately, but given that the two act in contradiction to each other, the court cannot establish the actual will of the MRF.
The court’s September 16 decisions are final and not subject to appeal.
Earlier decisions by the Supreme Administrative Court, as reported by The Sofia Globe on September 11 and September 12, included that that the CEC must register Peevski’s MRF – New Beginning coalition for the National Assembly elections, and to reject an appeal by Chakurov against the CEC refusal to register the MRF for the October 27 early parliamentary elections.
In a separate decision announced on September 17, the Supreme Administrative Court refused to consider an appeal by the Dogan faction against the CEC’s decision to register Peevski’s MRF – New Beginning for the elections.
The court said that according to the Electoral Code, only refusals to register a coalition were subject to appeal, and in this case, the decision had been to approve the registration.
The court added that the coalition around Chakurov was not a party to the case regarding Peevski’s coalition and thus did not have standing in the case.
(Photo: Blogtrepreneur, via Wikimedia Commons)
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