Bulgaria Right-Wing Coalition Alarms Europe about Registration

The co-Chairs of the opposition, rightist "Blue Coalition", Ivan Kostov and Martin Dimitrov, filed Friday an official letter with the Czech Embassy in Sofia, insisting that Europe sends election observers.

The Blue Coalition demands the Czech assistance as rotational Chair of the European Union in securing observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for the European parliamentary and local parliamentary elections.

The letter bases the request on the fact that Bulgaria's Central Election Commission (CEC) refused to register the Coalition for the Bulgarian parliamentary elections and CEC's previous attempt to sabotage the Coalition's participation at the European parliamentary elections, which was halted by the rule of the Supreme Administrative Court.

According to the Blue Coalition, the refusals are proof that the CEC is not capable of guaranteeing free, transparent and fair elections.

The Blue coalition further appealed President Parvanov to take a stand and declare his own position. They also demand that the Chief Prosecutor verifies who were those CEC members, refusing to comply with the Supreme Court's two consecutive decisions, mandatory for all institutions. The CEC members, who voted against the registration, are said to be from the Socialist party, the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the nationalist "Ataka".

Earlier Friday, the Blue Coalition's attorney submitted an appeal against the CEC decision with the Supreme Administrative Court. The magistrates are scheduled to try the case late Friday and will announce their decision at 11:00 am Saturday.

CEC based their refusal to register the Coalition on incorrect documents.

The opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, considered front runner at the upcoming elections, offered their support to the Blue Coalition, appealed the Court to rule quickly, and stated they considered the registration refusal as a direct threat to democracy in Bulgaria.

The CEC refusal came after a months-long court saga of the Union of Democratic Forces newly-elected Chair, Martin Dimitrov, whose failure to get court registration has been linked to magistrates' vested interests.

This has proved to be an obstacle for the coalition registration both for the European and general elections, due on June 7 and July 5 respectively.

The scheme is suspected to have been masterminded by people close to the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party and its key coalition partner, the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms in a bid to undermine the running of the right-wing parties in the elections this summer.

The Blue Coalition is made up five parties, the two major ones being the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB). 

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