site.btaCourt Declines to Hear Movement for Rights and Freedoms Appeals on Registration

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) declined to hear two appeals by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and terminated administrative cases 8585 and 8586 of 2024 against decisions of the Central Election Commission (CEC) 3691-NS/2024 and 3696-NS/2024, the court said here on Monday.

The appeals were against CEC's refusal to consider an application from MRF, represented by Dzhevdet Chakarov, in which Chakarov declared a unilateral waiver of MRF's subjective right to participate in the coalition agreement and be part of the structure of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning Coalition and CEC's decision to register Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning for participation in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections on October 27.

The magistrates accepted that MRF Chairs Delyan Peevski and Dzhevdet Chakarov, who can represent the party individually and have equal rights, are performing contradictory procedural actions, making it impossible to establish the true will of the legal entity involved in the proceedings. These contradictory procedural actions prevent the court from determining whether MRF's intention as a participant in the electoral process is to challenge CEC's decision regarding the cancellation of the registration or not.

In the registration process for election participation, the court cannot settle disputes between the two MRF representatives, who have equal and identical rights. The rulings on administrative cases No. 8585 and 8586 of 2024 are final, the court said.

This comes after SAC dismissed the appeal by the Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (DRF) coalition on September 12 against the CEC decision to deny the coalition's registration for participation in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections.

That is the latest development in a saga that has threatened the participation in the elections of the two MRF factions: Democracy, Rights and Freedoms-MRF, loyal to Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan, and Peevski's MRF-New Beginning.