Bulgaria's Ethnic Turks to Dispute Loss of MP Seat in Strasbourg

Hristo Biserov (left) pictured here with Lyutvi Mestan has made it clear the DPS party would attack Tuesday's decision of the Constitutional Court. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party DPS is going to file a suit with the ECHR disputing a ruling of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court under which it loses one MP seat.

The DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) has lost one of its 38 MP seats after the Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday to make void over 18 000 votes cast in Turkey in Bulgaria’s July 2009 Parliamentary Elections because of electoral process violations.

According to MP Hristo Biserov from the DPS leadership, the ruling of the Constitutional Court is wrong and unacceptable, and the party will use all kinds of means in order to get it annulled.

He claims that there were no violations during the voting in Turkey where more than half of all Bulgarian polling stations abroad were opened.

The DPS party could also appeal to the Constitutional Court within 14 days, and is going to ask the Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev to table their appeal to the Court.

“The ruling of the Constitutional Court has severe political consequences. For the first time, a ruling of the Constitutional Court will lead to a trial at the ECHR in Strasbourg, and for the first time a political party is going to appeal to the Constitutional Court after its ruling,” Biserov explained.

Meanwhile, the nationalist party VMRO has also expressed regret over the decision of the Constitutional Court but from another standpoint. The nationalists have slammed the Court for not annulling all votes cast in Turkey, which would mean that seven DPS MPs would have lost their seats.

Bulgaria recalled its Ambassador to Turkey, Branimir Mladenov, in the fall of 2009 over the violations of the election process there during the last Parliamentary Elections.

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