site.btaPeevski Appeals to Supreme Court against CEC's Refusal to Register His Coalition for Participation in Elections

The "Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning" coalition has filed an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) against the refusal of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to register the coalition for participation in the elections on October 27, according to the coalition’s most prominent figure, Delyan Peevski. A position circulated by the press centre of the MRF says that "MRF - New Beginnings" believes that the refusal is unlawful, as the coalition has submitted all the necessary documents, according to the Election Code.

According to Peevski, the CEC tendentiously ignored the fact that the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning coalition was the first to declare its registration with the commission, electronically, submitting at 0:05 on September 2 a regular application signed with the electronic signatures of the persons representing the coalition.

He adds that the coalition was established on August 27, and there is an explicit notarized consent from the leadership of the parliamentary group of the "Movement for Rights and Freedoms" to use the name and abbreviation of the party.

"In this sense, all subsequent "participations" of the MRF in other coalitions, as well as the use of the party's abbreviation in their names, are absolutely inadmissible and unlawful," Delyan Peevski wrote.

According to him, the CEC has been compromised as an independent body, bearing the highest responsibility for the conduct of fair and democratic elections after the blatant and gross interference of Rumen Radev and the pressure on the CEC chairman in favour of the MRF defectors (Dogan’s followers).

The Supreme Administrative Court said in a press release it will hear the appeal in open court on Tuesday.

Earlier on Monday, the Central Election Commission refused to register the coalitions of both factions in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF): Democracy, Rights and Freedoms - MRF of those loyal to MRF Honorary Chair Ahmed Dogan, and MRF - New Beginning of Delyan Peevski. The election administration reasons that the Election Code does not allow one party to be in more than one coalitions. The decisions for both were made in a unanimous vote of 15 votes.