Dogan is not the politician who has the moral right to point out the targets, even more Peevski. The main goal is to clear the state of people with severe addictions, so that there is no next "Peevski". Is this common front possible?
The power struggle in DPS will not be resolved with procedural games, incl. with the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to register one of the two camps for the elections for the 51st Parliament on October 27. Whatever this decision is, registration of DPS-Peevski or DPS-Dogan - or of any of the camps until presentation of “proper documents”, there is no quick way out. If both factions manage to enter the next parliament through different registrations - “Democracy, rights and freedoms” and “A New Beginning” for example, the fight continues.
The Plot
The CEC met after two nights of representatives from both camps occupying the entrances to be the first to register for the elections - guarded by the gendarmerie. Five minutes after midnight, Peevski's faction sent a message that “DPS-New Beginning” is a fact because of the submitted electronically signed application for registration. But it remains a fact without legal consequences, since the registration takes place live. At 9:30 a.m. today, strike groups from both dispatches invaded the Central Election Commission and seized the registration desks, which forced the commission to hold an extraordinary meeting on the case. The representative of the DPS in the CEC before the split is Sevinch Solakova, close to the camp of the honorary chairman.
All these events were preceded by a complete split in the DPS, dominated by the top of the party - where the two co-chairmen Delyan Peevski and Jevdet Chakarov stand and above them the honorary chairman, who is above everything, even above the party.
On the face of it, the October 27 showdown seems to be ethnic versus controlled/bought vote. But it only seems. The voters of both camps, who until recently voted for one DPS, have no illusions about what the governing factions of both factions have won on their backs and with their votes. The clientelistic format of the Movement and its authoritarian structure depersonalizes its voters by limiting their rights and freedoms, reducing them to voting machines.
For a party subordinated to one center for 30 years, the emergence of a second one is chaos, but also a step towards a more democratic order, however paradoxical it may sound. And the reason is that an internal collapse of such a scale has never happened in DPS. A close vote is unlikely to take place this time, and it would not be a surprise if DPS voters prefer other parties. The beginning of the end of the vote loyal to the ethnic group can begin now, and - paradoxically - this new beginning begins with Peevski, known for destroying and raiding businesses.
DPS is not Dogan, nor Peevski
When Dogan excluded Delyan Peevski from the DPS on August 27, the seals used until then were canceled and samples of new ones were accepted. A court decision is required for their approval, and in such a case, "DPS - New Beginning" can use another party's registration to participate in the vote. Speculation is that this will be “Ecovoice” - from the first to oppose the totalitarian communist regime, today headed by Emil Georgiev, with a dossier of an agent of the DS, the secret services of the same regime. There is no time to create and register a new party, so both camps are fighting for the DPS brand and registration with the CEC.
But will they be able to win the most significant capital of a party - the voters, without whom it would not exist and provide “portions”, influence, leading positions to politicians. In a declaration signed by Dogan, a call is made to the political forces for a common front against Peevski - “Bulgaria without Peevski”. “This is the only and extremely necessary way to free the statehood in Bulgaria from the shackles of dependencies and corrupt practices at the highest levels of government,”, says the appeal. The creator denies his creation, as if sanctioned for corruption by the US and UK is not what he is, thanks to the power of the DPS and complex schemes beyond the edge of the law, supported by figures in the judicial system and government institutions.
Dogan is not the politician who has the moral right to point out the targets, even more so Peevski. The main goal is the cleansing of the state - the judicial system, institutions, regulators and services from people with severe addictions, who can be controlled by each next “Peevski”. A common front is necessary in the name of this national goal, but such does not seem possible - political forces tend to support one or the other camp depending on conjunctural interests.
The End of System Parties
The until recently unthinkable split in the DPS was also read as an epilogue for the systemic parties. The SDS was the first to go, fused to the letter with a leader whose top political achievement was the coalition with GERB. The breakdown in the BSP takes longer, but is also irreversible. Now DPS too. They all wore the labels "right", "left", "liberal". as a price list, not as a political entity - and therefore self-eating at the top is their inevitable end.
And political self-assault is not retribution.
This comment expresses the author's personal opinion and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial staff and DV as a whole.