site.btaDelyan Peevski Elected Sole Chair of Movement for Rights and Freedoms

Delyan Peevski was elected as the sole chair of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) at an extraordinary national conference held at Sofia’s National Palace of Culture congress centre on Sunday. The 544 delegates at the conference unanimously voted for Peevski, the party said in a press release.

"This is an enormous responsibility for all of us, and especially for me, whom you have chosen as your leader," Peevski said following his election.

The national conference adopted a programmatic declaration of the MRF, which is based on the party's governance programme and reflects the principles, goals, and means of implementation outlined in it, the press release further said.

The conference also adopted a new party statute, which updates and modernizes the party's objectives. It eliminates the position of "honorary chair" and establishes a new youth organization.

Earlier on Sunday, speaking to reporters in the village of Ruen (Burgas Region) on Sunday, Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF) leader Dzhevdet Chakarov announced that the party members loyal to the now former MRF honorary chair Ahmed Dogan plan to challenge the legitimacy of the extraordinary national conference in court.

BTA recalls that, in July, the MRF split into two factions - one loyal to MRF founder and honorary chairman Ahmed Dogan and another led by Delyan Peevski. Members of the MRF who declared their loyalty to the MRF Honorary Chairman and founder Ahmed Dogan left or were expelled from the MRF parliamentary group in the 50th National Assembly, including co-floor leader Dzhevdet Chakarov. The parliamentary group remained under the leadership of the other MRF co-floor leader, Delyan Peevski. He and Chakarov had been elected co-leaders at the last regular MRF National Conference in February 2024 at Dogan's proposal. In the last snap parliamentary elections, the two fractions of the MRF run separately for Parliament, registered as Alliance for Rights and Freedoms of Dogan and Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning of Peevski. Both formations made it into the 51st National Assembly and formed the parliamentary groups of Democracy for Rights and Freedoms (DRF) and Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning, respectively.