site.btaDzhevdet Chakarov Asks Court to Enter Changes in MRF Leadership Approved at Aug. 27 Meeting of Central Operative Bureau

Dzhevdet Chakarov, one of two lawful leaders of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and a member of the party faction headed by the party founder and Honorary Chair Ahmed Dogan, asked the court Wednesday to enter changes in the MRF case file that were approved at a meeting of the MRF Central Operative Bureau on August 27 and reconfirmed on September 23. Among the changes is the expulsion from the party's leadership of eight people, including the head of the rival MRF faction Delyan Peevski.

A hearing on Chakarov's application is to be held within a month.

Peevski's faction is challenging the lawfulness of the Central Operative Bureau decisions and argues that its August 27 meeting did not have quorum and was therefore not qualified to decide anything.

Peevski and Dogan have been feuding over the control of the party since July. First, Peevski started removing Dogan's supporters from the parliamentary group and from senior positions across the country. Then Dogan, until recently the unchallenged patriarch of MRF, asked Peevski to step down as MRF co-chair, but Peevski refused to comply. The MRF group in Parliament split into two. According to an August poll, Dogan was the absolute favourite among the MRF base but it remains to be seen at the October 27 elections if this is still the case. The two factions will be running separately for Parliament: Dogan's faction as part of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms coalition and Peevski's faction as MRF-New Beginning.