A meeting of the DPS parliamentary group has started in the National Assembly.
A message from the party's press office, sent minutes after 15:00, said that the Movement for Rights and Freedoms is united and supports both Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan and Chairmen Delyan Peevski and Cevdet Chakarov in their efforts to develop DPS as the second political force and the first liberal in Bulgaria, reports from BNR.
The letter also says:
"The movement for rights and freedoms for more than 20 years has steadfastly followed the path of Euro-Atlantic and European values. For us, the rule of law, the rights and freedoms of European citizens, the protection of identity and togetherness have always been the basis of politics.
DPS has shown and shows intolerance towards attempts to sacrifice the common cause and values of the community to personal interests.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is united and is proud of the contribution of the honorary chairman Dr. Ahmed Dogan to the development of the ethnic model of togetherness in Bulgaria and supports both the honorary chairman Dr. Dogan and the chairmen of the DPS Mr. Delyan Peevski and Mr. Jevdet Chakarov in their efforts to develop DPS as the second political force and the first liberal one in Bulgaria.
Once again, we thank you for your support, continue our active cooperation and reaffirm our active participation in the work of the world and European liberal family".
And minutes before 16:00, a statement was sent to the media by the members of the DPS PG, supporting the honorary chairman of the DPS Dr. Ahmed Dogan. They indicate that they unanimously decided not to participate in the meeting of the parliamentary group scheduled for today.
Here are the reasons put forward by the deputies:
Confirming once again the position expressed by us for the urgent need to return to the normal functioning of the collective bodies of the party, we consider that the current leadership of the PG was not elected according to the Statute of the DPS, therefore the same has not the necessary legitimacy and we should not take part in its meetings until the position of the Honorary Chairman Dr. Ahmed Dogan is pronounced;
In support of this, we emphasize that the instructions of the Honorary Chairman Dr. Ahmed Dogan, stating that, according to the situation, the DPS must have clearly stated co-chairmen - both for the party and for the parliamentary group.
Jevdet Chakarov
Delyan Peevski
Which means:
co-chairman participation in the negotiation process;
joint decisions with mandatory two signatures of the two co-chairmen;
in a possible coalition government, everything must be legitimized/supported by the signature of the two co-presidents.
We do not take part in the announced meeting because there is no clearly written agenda.
We emphasize that taking a decision on obtaining a mandate to form a government is not within the competence of the Parliamentary Group, but of the collective political bodies of the party.
The non-participation of the majority of the district chairmen of the party at yesterday's impromptu and illegitimate gathering, as well as the strong international support received by liberal organizations, expressed in official letters to the Honorary Chairman Dr. Ahmed Dogan by Liberal International President Hakima El Haite, the chairman of the Liberal Network of South East Europe Roman Jakic and the long-time leader of the European liberals Sir Graham Watson, give us confidence that the set direction "NO RETURN" is the right one and it will be defended until the normal functioning of the party bodies is restored".