Protesters Demand Withdrawal of DPS Lawmaker in Bulgaria's Dupnitsa

Citizens of the capital Sofia also held a protest in a show of solidarity with Dupnitsa. Photo by BGNES

Hundreds are holding a rally in the town of Dupnitsa to vent their anger at the election of a controversial DPS lawmaker without enough votes cast in his favor.

Mayor Metodi Chimev is also among the demonstrators, who demand that Aleksandar Metodiev, also known as "Bat Sali" renounce his seat.

More than 21 000 votes were cast for center-right GERB in the region of Kyustendil in Bulgaria's south-west, where Dupnitsa lies, and support for the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) stands at just 800.

Both parties are however to have one MP each to represent them in Parliament, after ballots from massive expat voting for DPS were transferred to the region and resulted in a seat for "Bat Sali".

"We don't know him. I want someone we know, and this one we don't. Besides, he is from the DPS," a protester told the Bulgarian National Television.

Mayor Metodi Chimev added votes for the DPS "are not enough even for a municipal councilor."

More protests were held in Dupnitsa earlier this week, and thousand signed then a petition calling on authorities to hear their demand.

Socialist party (BSP) member Maya Manolova, also MP from Kyustendil, called on the DPS to withdraw "Bat Sali" to preserve ethnic peace, as "an uprising" is growing among the citizens of Kyustendil region, in her words.

A protest is also to be held by GERB's local structure in the town of Yambol in Bulgaria's south due to the allocation of seats in Parliament.

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) earlier announced GERB (18 647 votes) was to have a single MP seat, while the BSP (13 834 votes) would have two seats and the DPS, with just 3 723, would have one.

The DPS won a large part of the vote abroad, with more than 60 000 (mostly in Turkey) out of 135 000 voters outisde the country having supported it in the October 5 early elections.

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