The ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms is confident it will gain at least four seats in Bulgaria's upcoming first MEPs elections.

"Our expectations are for four plus one representatives in the European Parliament, should the turnout reach 35%," Yunal Lyutfi, deputy head of the party, said as he submitted the ticket for registration.

The showing of the ethic party in the MEPs elections will depend to a great extent on a controversial legislation, which allows only Bulgarian nationals who have lived in the county or in a EU member state in the three months prior to the election to cast their vote.

The party members, however, think otherwise and claim they have never relied exclusively on the votes of Bulgarians living in Turkey to score high in elections.

A total of 185,000 Bulgarians, who live in Turkey, have been scratched off the voting lists for the May 20 MEP elections. All these people will not be allowed to the polling stations, because of the new law the government accepted for the elections.

During the heated debates in Parliament, the right-wing opposition and the nationalists took a firm stand against allowing Bulgarians in Turkey to determine the outcome of the vote. In their words these may bring "Trojan horses" to the European Parliament.

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