site.btaAlliance for Rights and Freedoms Slams Proposal to Restrict Voting Rights of Bulgarians Abroad

The Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF) will firmly oppose the adoption of measures restricting the voting rights of Bulgarian citizens around the world, Floor Leader Hayri Sadakov said in a declaration from the National Assembly rostrum on Friday.

Sadakov said that the statement was prompted by what he described as “yet another display of blatant populism, political demagoguery and hypocrisy” by the MRF - New Beginning group.

"On the one hand, they condemn the communist-era repression of Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin and Muslims in Bulgaria. As is well known historically, many of these citizens were forcibly expelled and compelled to seek a new life outside the country. On the other hand, representatives of the same New Beginning were behind denigration of these compatriots during Thursday’s debates on amendments to the Election Code," Sadakov emphasized. He said that New Beginning “shamefully remained silent,” leaving MPs from Vazrazhdane, There Is Such a People (TISP), and GERB “to deal, at their command, with the Bulgarian Constitution and international legal norms.”

According to Sadakov, it is political demagoguery and hypocrisy to deliver such declarations while being aware that the statute of limitations for seeking justice for crimes committed by the totalitarian regime before 1990 is approaching. He described it as “blatant cynicism” to initiate an extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, ensure quorum, and then pretend not to understand “what new parliamentary and political wrongdoing” was being committed.

The real problems with election irregularities occur in all geographic locations where elections are held, but they cannot be addressed by restricting the opportunity to vote, still less through discrimination on ethnic or religious grounds, Sadakov said. Such practices have long been rejected and prohibited in democracies, to which ARF claims to belong, he added.

Speaking on a procedural matter, MRF - New Beginning Deputy Floor Leader Iskra Mihaylova said that her parliamentary group defends the right of every Bulgarian citizen, regardless of where they live, in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Turkiye, Poland or elsewhere, to vote and exercise both their right and civic duty. “We do not retreat from this principle. Any speculation that someone has an interest or not is entirely unfounded. Citizens’ rights must be guaranteed. This is a fundamental right,” Mihaylova said.