site.btaAhmed Dogan Will Not Serve as Alliance for Rights and Freedoms MP in New Parliament

Ahmed Dogan will not serve as an MP from Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF) and will continue to perform his functions as the honourary chair of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). 

Dogan told Bulgarian National Television that he has served enough in parliament and does not belong there anymore. The MRF press centre posted the video on their Facebook page. 

Dogan also said that at this stage political formations seem to be moving towards the "assemblage" model as a management formula for forming a government. "I wish the other political forces and parliamentary groups, which are yet to be constructed, to have a greater responsibility towards the country, towards the people and to stop seeing people as just voters," he added.

When asked if he would support a government by GERB-USD and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Dogan answered that at this stage it theoretically seems so. "But the negotiations are yet to begin. They will be no more problem-free than previous negotiations from the last three years. They will be very difficult," he pointed out.

"The big problem is that every political force, every parliamentary group have positioned themselves in such a way that they only care about their own political ego," Dogan argued and said the formations want to achieve fast results that took their predecessors decades. 

Dogan was adamant that there is a solution. "There is a solution on the horizon, as long as there is will, understanding and above all responsibility," he added.

When asked if he would enter negotiations to help reach a solution, Dogan pointed out that the ARF parliamentary group is quite constructive. "Everyone has the responsibility, the will and the capacity to participate in such negotiations," he added in relation to the talks to form a government.

Regarding the proposal for a "cordon sanitaire" (sanitary cordon) around the rival MRF-New Beginning headed by Delyan Peevski, Dogan commented that the AFR have already made this move. "Why are you asking me if we will join, at this stage we are the only ones", he stressed.

"I want to use this opportunity to thank all the voters for voting at all, and especially our voters who dared to come out, because these elections were atypical, even for some voters they were also dangerous, risky," said Dogan.