Turks Leader Top Non-Attender at Bulgaria Parliament

Ahmed Dogan, a leading figure in Bulgaria’s political life, is the top non-attender of Parliament session since 2001. Photo by BGNES

Ahmed Dogan, leader of the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), which was part of Bulgaria's previous government, is living up to his reputation as the top-non attender in the country's parliament.

Dogan has shirked nine parliamentary sessions in January alone, a check has shown.

He is followed by a number of members from Bulgaria's conservative Order, Law and Justice (RZS) party, which recently saw the demise of its parliamentary group after the defection of one of its members, which took its parliamentary group below the ten-member minimum and stripped it of its official status.

Seven MPs from the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) have also been absent at least once from the sessions, six from the Socialist group and just one from the right-wing Blue Coalition and the nationalistic Ataka.

Bulgaria's MPs have been notorious for their proclivity to vote on behalf of colleagues, who have decided to go after their private business instead of working in the plenary hall.

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