"Citizens, dispatchers, democrats, let's rise together and free Bulgaria from Peevski!". This is not an election slogan of the PP-DB, but the meaning of the message contained in the address of the honorary chairman of the DPS and one of the creators of the "Who” model. Ahmed Dogan.
The model against which citizens protested 11 years ago
A week before the early vote, without naming the oligarch, elected with his blessing as co-chairman of the DPS 7 months ago, Dogan named the shortcomings of Bulgarian democracy - but not as one of the culprits, but as one of its (r)revolutionaries. The model against which the citizens protested 11 years ago and which Dogan willingly consumed until recently, is now recognized by him as a national problem, a "common trouble for all”, a threat to the "unity of the nation”.
For the mobilization of citizens against fear and in the name of the rule of law, Ahmed Dogan urges at a time when Peevski is destroying the DPS and claiming the majority share of the party. In other words, the model that both have shared for years will exist only for one - such is the paradigm of the conquered state with warrant arrests and theft of companies.
After the address of Dogan and his political rival, Peevski released a video on behalf of "DPS-New Beginning” - and he with an appeal to the voters. "I will not let them continue to fill their pockets with your money… I will expose them to the wrath they deserve. The state should protect you, not them. Doesn't it remind Batman in The Dark Knight: "I'm what Gotham needs right now” (I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be)...
Election campaigns give birth to Christmas miracles - Peevski delivers justice (in his own image and likeness), Dogan talks about the rule of law and the abolition of "feeders" (and what will happen to the portion dispenser)?!
What the by-elections in Omurtag showed
But the big battle between the two camps in DPS has not yet taken place, and the small one - the partial elections for mayor in Omurtag, showed the first victory for "DPS-New Beginning". Even before the results were announced, the structure of the "DPS-New Beginning” in Targovishte announced on his Facebook page that the new mayor of Omurtag is Juneit Ionuzov, appointed by an initiative committee with the support of "New Beginning". The previous mayor Eshref Eshrefov, who won three consecutive mandates, was ousted after a conflict with Peevski.
And the victory of Ionuzov, who governed Omurtag as a temporary mayor, was largely predetermined - by the fear that Dogan spoke of, and by justice, as Peevski understands it. Added to them is the lack of water, which has plagued the 20,000-person municipality for over three decades, but especially strongly in recent years, when a state of emergency was also declared. Eshrefov, who took the post of mayor in 2015, failed to solve this problem. During the election campaign, the water crisis was once again put into use.
The conclusions of the vote
The split in the DPS, which started 4 months ago, expectedly refused some voters to go to the polls. In the municipality of Omurtag, 8,107 of the 20,686 eligible voters voted, or just over 38%. For comparison, in the local elections a year ago, the voter turnout was 50.57% with 10,454 people voting. With nearly half of these votes - 5,118, Eshrefov won his third mandate last October, but this time not with the DPS list.
The reason is that a few months earlier he left the Movement together with all the DPS municipal councilors because of a conflict with Peevski over the arrangement of the lists for the parliamentary elections on June 9, 2023. And "justice" fell upon him, with the tacit consent of the honorary chairman. A month and a half before the vote, the local team of DANS, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the anti-corruption commission and the prosecutor's office sealed off the municipality of Omurtag, and Eshrefov's home and the offices of his father and brother were searched. After the election, the mayor was indicted for participating in an organized crime group in connection with public procurement. Meanwhile, a procedure for his removal began after DPS challenged the vote - although the difference between Eshrefov and the DPS candidate, who placed second, was over 1,500 actual votes.
Battles for supremacy
After the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) finally canceled the results of the vote, it came to the new mayoral elections. And Eshrefov's remand was changed from "house arrest” on a cash guarantee of BGN 20,000 in order to participate in the elections as an independent candidate. In addition to him and Ionuzov, Mustafa Akhmedov (GERB) and Erdoan Akhmedov (DPS) also participated.
Back in July, however, the District Council of DPS-Targovishte became one of the first structures to declare its support for Peevski. She was witnessed as early as July 3, after withdrawing her confidence from MP Jeyhan Ibryamov as soon as it became clear that he had voted with "abstained” for the design office of GERB-SDS. (To date, Ibryamov has been arrested on charges of influence peddling, but he is also the leader of the list of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms in Shumen.)
Later in July, Jonuzov, until then deputy mayor, was elected by the Municipal Council as the temporary mayor of Omurtag. Now he won in the first round with nearly 60% of the votes, after an election day for which there were no reports of violations in the 57 SICs in the municipality or of problems with the machines.
The captured country will not break free
"DPS-New Beginning” took mayor in the village of Yasenkovo, municipality of Venets - Halil Osman, as well as in Gabrovnitsa, Montana - Rangel Ivanov. October 27 will be Waterloo for one of the two camps in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - but whoever is defeated, the conquered country will not be freed.