Movement for Rights and Freedoms facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Movement for Rights and Freedoms Движение за права и свободи
Abbreviation	DPS
Chairperson	Delyan Peevski Dzhevdet Chakarov
Honorary President	Ahmed Dogan
Founded	4 January 1990 (1990-01-04)
Headquarters	45A Alexander Stamboliyski Blvd., Sofia
Youth wing	Youth movement for rights and freedoms
Membership (2018)	40,000
Ideology	Liberalism Turkish minority interests
Political position	Centre
Regional affiliation	Liberal South East European Network
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
International affiliation	Liberal International
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
Colors	Blue
National Assembly	44 / 240
European Parliament	3 / 17
Municipalities	48 / 265
Political parties

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (Bulgarian: Движение за права и свободи Dvizhenie za prava i svobodi, ДПС, DPS; Turkish: Hak ve Özgürlükler Hareketi, HÖH) is a centrist political party in Bulgaria with a support base among ethnic minority communities.

It is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). While representing the interests of Muslims, especially Turks and to a lesser extent Pomaks (Muslim Bulgarians), the party also receives the largest share of Romani votes.

History

Ahmed Dogan (left) at the foundation conference

The party was officially established in 1990, with its founder Ahmed Dogan serving as its leader until 2013. On 19 January 2013, Lyutfi Mestan was elected as the second chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. Mestan was removed from power by the insistence of Dogan for declaring support for Turkey for shooting down a Russian military jet in 2015. This led Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to blacklist Ahmed Dogan and ban him from entering Turkey. Mestan formed his own party, named Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance.

Electoral history

Starting in 1990 as the first political party of the Turkish minority participating in the parliamentary elections, in the first elections in 1990 after the end of the communist regime, which the Turks of the country had boycotted, the party won 6.0% of the popular vote and 24 out of 400 seats and became the fourth largest party in the parliament. In the parliamentary elections in 1991 it won 7.6% of the vote and remained with 24 seats in а 240-seater parliament. In the elections in 1994 it won 5.4% of the vote and its seats decreased to 15. In the elections in 1997 it won 7.6% of the vote and 19 out of 240 seats. From 2001 to 2009, the party was part of the government, first in a coalition with the National Movement Simeon II (NDSV) party and then with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). The party had ministers in the Sakskoburggotski Government, Stanishev Government and Oresharski Government (2013-2014).

It won in the elections in 2001 7.5% of the vote and 21 out of 240 seats. Subsequently, for the first time the party joined a coalition government, which was led by the winner of the elections (NDSV). Under the control of the party were two out of the 17 Bulgarian ministries – the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and the Minister without portfolio, the other 15 remained under the control of senior coalition partner NDSV. At the 2005 elections it increased to 12.8% of vote and 34 out of 240 seats and was kept in power as a part of the coalition led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and National Movement Simeon II (NDSV) party. The ministries under the control of the Movement of Rights and Freedoms increased to three out of 18.

At the 2009 elections it increased to 14.0% of vote and 38 out of 240 seats. Following the election, the government was totally occupied by the decisive winner, the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms was еxcluded from the government and remained in opposition after having been part of coalition governments for the two consecutive preceding terms between 2001 and 2009. At the 2009 European Parliament elections the party won 14.1% of the vote and three MEPs out of Bulgaria's total representation of 18. Two of the MEPs are ethnic Turks (Filiz Husmenova and Metin Kazak) and one (Vladko Panayotov) is ethnic Bulgarian.

In the Bulgarian parliamentary election in 2013, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms decreased to 11.3% of the vote; it took 36 seats and remained the third biggest party. The DPS won the elections abroad with 41.3% and the most polling stations and voters in a foreign country were in Turkey.

The DPS won four MEPs in the 2014 European Parliament elections.

National Assembly

Percentage of votes for MRF by electoral districts in the 2014 parliamentary elections

Map showing performance of MRF at the 2015 Bulgarian local elections.

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1990	491,596	8.03 (#3)	23 / 400	23	Opposition
1991	418,168	7.6 (#3)	24 / 240	1	Coalition
1994	283,094	5.44 (#4)	15 / 240	9	Opposition
1997	323,429	7.6 (#3)	19 / 240	4	Opposition
2001	340,395	7.45 (#4)	21 / 240	2	Coalition
2005	467,400	12.81 (#3)	34 / 240	13	Coalition
2009	610,521	14.45 (#3)	38 / 240	4	Opposition
2013	400,466	11.31 (#3)	36 / 240	2	Coalition
2014	487,134	14.84 (#3)	38 / 240	2	Opposition
2017	315,976	8.99 (#4)	26 / 240	12	Opposition
Apr 2021	336,306	10.51 (#4)	30 / 240	4	Snap election
Jul 2021	292,514	10.71 (#5)	29 / 240	1	Snap election
Nov 2021	340,997	12.83 (#3)	34 / 240	5	Opposition
2022	344,625	13.76 (#3)	36 / 240	2	Snap election
2023	347,700	13.18 (#4)	36 / 240	0	Support

European Parliament

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
2007	392,650	20.26 (#3)	4 / 18	4
2009	364,197	14.14 (#3)	3 / 18	1
2014	386,725	17.27 (#3)	4 / 17	1
2019	323,510	16.55 (#3)	3 / 17	1

European representation

In the European Parliament, Movement for Rights and Freedoms sits in the Renew Europe group with three MEPs.

In the European Committee of the Regions, Movement for Rights and Freedoms sits in the Renew Europe CoR group with two full and two alternate members for the 2020-2025 mandate. Nedzhmi Ali is member of the Renew Europe CoR Bureau.

See also

In Spanish: Movimiento por los Derechos y Libertades para niños

• Political machine
• List of liberal parties
• Political parties of minorities
• Liberalism and radicalism in Bulgaria
• Turks in Bulgaria