site.btaNationalist Ataka Party Files Documents for October 5 Parliamentary Elections; Leader Certain Party Will Be in Next Parliament

Sofia, August 18 (BTA) - The nationalist Ataka party filed documents Monday for running in the October 5 early parliamentary elections. Speaking to reporters, leader Volen Siderov said that the party will be present in the next Parliament as well, "irrespective of what polling agencies forecast". Recent polls show that Ataka will garner 2 per cent at the election, while the threshold to Parliament is 4 per cent.

Siderov said that the party's list of candidates is not ready yet.

The Ataka leader said also that the "union between [the right-wing] GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) has been apparent for some time". "GERB intends to govern with the support of MRF and of the 'crutches' in the face of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, and the Reformist Bloc," Siderov said.

He said that "Bulgaria needs to straighten the direction it is being led to, which meant leaving the colonial slavery, leading an independent policy and terminating the hostile attitude towards Russia".