Bulgarian Turkish party eyeing power-sharing with government

BELGRADE, Serbia

Bulgaria's Turkish minority party is eyeing a power-sharing agreement with the government ahead of the April elections, said head of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party.

Mustafa Karadayi, chairman of the MRF, whose majority members are Turks and Muslims, is expected to be among the bigwigs in parliament.

Karadayi was previously nominated to run for president and came third in the first round with 11.5% of the votes.

Parliamentary elections will be held in Bulgaria on April 2. Nearly 12,000 voting centers will be set up in the country, and Bulgarian citizens living abroad, including in Türkiye, will be able to vote at 775 centers.

"We need the support of our citizens... Because if we become partners in power, the regions we live in will be much better living spaces. Our citizens will be able to do their jobs in both Türkiye and in Bulgaria. We call on the citizens of Bulgaria, our compatriots and our brothers, wherever they are in the four corners of the world, primarily our relatives and brothers living in Türkiye, to participate intensively in the elections, to support us," Karadayi told Anadolu.

According to Karadayi, MRF will meet with the voters in Bulgaria and also will organize iftar programs in Türkiye's Istanbul and Bursa where Bulgarian Turks are living.

One of the poorest and least stable members of the EU, Bulgaria is facing a political dead-end as politicians failed to form a government after four elections in a row.

Bulgarians headed to the polls last October for a fourth time in the last two years to elect parliament members.

The seven parties that won seats in the 240-parliament could not set aside their differences and form a coalition government.

So, the voters will have to go to the polls for the fifth time over the past two years.

Over 6.6 million citizens are registered to vote at 13,200 polling stations in Bulgaria and 750 centers in 67 other countries.

Türkiye, home to many dual Bulgarian nationals, has about 60 polling stations for April’s vote.