New Nationalist Party Born in Bulgaria after VMRO Breakup

Domestic | March 14, 2010, Sunday // 14:41|  views

The two VMRO leaders Karakachanov (left) and Slavcho Atanasov (right) give each other a hug shortly before they split up the party. Photo by BGNES

A new nationalist political party has been set up in Bulgaria after the VMRO party split in two over internal dissent.

The new party is called “VMRO-NIE”, a Bulgarian acronym for “Faith, Moral, Patriotism, Responsibility – National Ideal for Unity”.

The Deputy Mayor of Plovdiv, Petko Atanasov, has become the chair of the new party on Sunday, after the party got its court registration earlier in the week, the BGNES news agency reported.

Two lawyers of the Plovdiv Municipality, Sonya Tosheva and Hristo Stoyankin are in the executive council of the new party. Plovdiv Mayor Slavcho Atanasov is expected to join the party as well.

Atanasov is the only VMRO mayor of a larger Bulgarian city; he was elected in 2007 with the support of Bulgaria's ruling party GERB.

VMRO-NIE expects to see some 3 000 members of the VMRO-BND desert the original party and join its ranks.

The original VMRO (VMRO-Bulgarian National Movement) chaired by Krasimir Karakachanov sees itself as a descendant of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization which fought against the Ottoman Empire in Thrace and Macedonia after 1893.

The VMRO breakup started in the fall of 2009 as the Plovdiv Mayor Slavcho Atanasov and Krasimir Karakachanov faced one another in a leadership contest. Karakachanov won after Atanasov’s supporters left the party congress over alleged manipulations.

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Tags: VMRO, VMRO-NIE, Slavcho Atanasov, Plovdiv Mayor, Krasimir Karakachanov, Petko Atanasov

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