site.btaMRF Says Undemocratic Legislation Has Become Dividing Line in Its Relations with GERB

MRF Says Undemocratic Legislation Has Become Dividing Line in Its Relations with GERB

Sofia, October 5 (BTA) - The parliamentary group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) declared on Wednesday that a number of bills which have been adopted or proposed recently are undemocratic and discriminatory and have become a dividing line between the MRF and the ruling GERB party. The legislation in question includes a September 30 ban on clothing covering a person's face, Election Code amendments, planned revisions to the Radio and Television Act and three proposed bills to amend the Religious Faiths Act.

Presenting the declaration on behalf of the group, MRF Deputy Floor Leader Tuncher Kurdjaliev warned: "These matters will become an unavoidable factor in our communication with GERB, if it exists at all." He noted that, earlier on, the MRF thought that discriminatory legislation was the result of other parties twisting GERB's arm, but now it is clear that GERB does not only condone such policies but is actively promoting them.

"The MRF has gone beyond being just a moderate opposition to GERB," Kurdjaliev stated. "From now on, every time democracy is trampled underfoot, the MRF will speak out profusely and convincingly across Bulgaria, particularly in Doulovo, Nikola Kozlevo, Koubrat, Kotel, Yablanovo, Aitos, Turgovishte, Razgrad and Kurdjali." (These are places where the MRF traditionally enjoys much support from voters.)

He accused GERB and the Patriotic Front of unfair play aimed at securing a victory for the nationalists' candidate in the upcoming presidential elections by undermining the chances of the candidates proposed by the other major parties: the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Reformist Bloc and the ABV.

Kurdjaliev urged all democratic political forces to prevent the adoption of undemocratic legislation, and called on the populist and nationalist forces to refrain from stoking public tensions on religious grounds in the lead-up to the presidential elections.

Patriotic Front Co-Chairman Krassimir Karakachanov, who is running for President, said the MRF is afraid of being ousted by the united patriotic forces from the third place in Bulgarian politics, which would deprive it of the chance to blackmail left or right wing parties into forming coalitions with it. Karakachanov denied the MRF's claim that the Patriotic Front has joined forces with GERB for electoral purposes. He said a close look at the results of the upcoming elections will reveal who has made arrangements with GERB - whether it is the Patriotic Front or the MRF.

Karakachanov said the MRF is also worried that the patriotic alliance is clearly advancing towards becoming the second major force in national politics.