MRF PROPOSES EARLY ELECTIONS BY END 2014

The party ‘Movement for Rights and Freedoms’ (MRF), a key partner in the government, opted for early elections to be held by the end of this year. In a press conference in Sofia on 5th June, Lyutvi Mestan, the MRF leader outlined two more scenarios, but they also excluded the possibility the current government to serve its full term of office.

One of the three proposed scenarios includes the government to stay in power until October 2015, folowed by parliamentary elections  held at the same time with local elections. The second option according to Mestan is for parliamentary elections to take place in mid 2015. The third scenario is early elections at the end of November or beginning of December this year.

The position of the MRF is not a surprise as several days ago Lyutvi Mestan stated that the political situation after the European elections was such that the current government, led by Prime Minister Oresharski, was unlikely to remain in power for a full term of office.

Today Mestan confirmed his opinion although he gave a positive assessment of the Prime Minister’s work. He emphasized that MRF and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) received over 800 000 votes in the 2014 European elections.

Mestan said he met and talked with Prime Minister Oresharski earlier this morning and was impressed with his maturity.

Political reactions to Lyutvi Mestan’s proposal

Yanaki Stoilov, the deputy chair of the Parliamentary group of ‘Coalition for Bulgaria’ commented that the government should firstly fulfill certain tasks and if it did not show progress then elections should be held. He added that consultations with the coalitional partner, the ‘Movement for Rights and Freedoms’ would go on.

Boyko Borisov, the leader of the opposition GERB insists for immediate resignation of the cabinet and early elections. In his opinion, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and MRF have an arrangement to hold the government in place until Stanishev gets proposed for EU Commissioner.

Nikolai Barekov, the leader of coalition ‘Bulgaria without Censorship’ suggested the President to convene the parties for consultations about the date of the elections. He repeated that the most convenient date in his opinion was 26^th October.

Radan Kanev, the spokesperson of the center right ‘Reformist Bloc’ says that the government has to resign immediately because the ruling of BSP and MRF is dangerous for Bulgaria. In his opinion, MRF and ‘Bulgaria without Censorship’ are parties which should never be in the role of balancers.