site.btaUPDATED Supreme Administrative Court Annuls Refusal of Central Election Commission to Register MRF-New Beginning for October 27 Elections

The Supreme Administrative Court annulled as unlawful the refusal of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to register the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning coalition for participation in the snap parliamentary elections on October 27, the court said on Wednesday.

The court’s file was sent to the CEC for immediate registration of the coalition of Delyan Peevski.

Later in the day, the CEC registered the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning coalition for participation in the snap parliamentary elections. The decision was adopted with 15 votes in favour.

The CEC also voted to refuse the registration of the MRF party of Ahmed Dogan. The decision, adopted with 13 votes in favour and 2 against, is appealable.

That is the latest development in a saga that has threatened the participation in the elections of the two MRF factions: one loyal to Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan and the other, to Delyan Peevksi. Both factions formed coalitions to run in the elections and submitted their papers to the Central Election Commission (CEC) simultaneously, hoping to gain advantage over the rival. None did and their files were registered by CEC with the same time and with no entry number. Next, CEC instructed the two coalitions to make sure MRF was removed from them as the law allows one party to be in one coalition only. Both coalitions said they would not comply. As a result, on September 9 CEC refused to register any of the two coalitions for the elections. Later that day, Dogan and his supporters submitted registration documents as a stand-alone party, while Peevski appealed CEC’s refusal.