DJ Presidential elections Bulgaria: Mustafa Karadaya as first minority representative nominated - 'Our example are the leading democracies' - MEP Iskra Mihaylova to become vice president
DGAP-Media / 2021-11-11 / 12:17 Candidates for the presidential elections in Bulgaria: Mustafa Karadaya as the first minority representative nominated and MEP Iskra Mihaylova running for Vice-President
Presidential elections Bulgaria: Mustafa Karadaya is first minority representative nominated - "Our example are the leading democracies" - MEP Iskra Mihaylova to become vice president Sofia, November 11, 2021 - For the first time in Bulgaria's modern democratic history, a representative of the country's minorities, Mustafa Karadaya, has been nominated for the highest office, President of the Republic. Karadaya is of Turkish descent and a Muslim, while MEP Iskra Mihaylova, who is running for vice president, is of Bulgarian descent and Christian Orthodox. With Karadaya's candidacy, the liberal political party "Movement for Rights and Freedoms" (DPS) hopes to break Bulgaria's glass ceiling for minorities. This coming weekend, Bulgarian voters will be called upon to elect their representatives to the National Assembly for the third time in a year. Elections in April and July failed to produce a ruling majority coalition. Out of 23 candidates, only three scored more than 10 % of the voters in the polls a few days before the election. For thirty years, since the fall of communism and the restoration of democracy, Bulgaria has developed its unique Bulgarian ethnic model, different from the rest of the turbulent Balkans and offering a comprehensive opportunity for the integration of its diverse population. Representatives of different ethnic and religious backgrounds actively participate in the country's political life and play a leading role in parliament and local administration, as well as at the European political level. However, this is the first time in Bulgaria's modern democratic history that a candidate from the ethnic minorities has been nominated for the highest office in the country - that of President of the Republic. The liberal political party Movement for Rights and Freedoms DPS (in English: Movement for Rights and Freedoms MRF) is trying to break the glass ceiling by presenting its leader Mustafa Karadaya as a candidate for the Bulgarian head of state. This third election differs from the last two in that it combines parliamentary elections with elections for president, in a system where the head of state is elected by popular vote. Iskra Mihaylova, the party's MEP and vice chair of the New Europe group in the European Parliament, is also running as a candidate for vice president of the Republic of Bulgaria. Karadaya is of Turkish descent and Muslim, Mihaylova is of Bulgarian descent and Christian Orthodox. Touring the country together in a campaign bus labeled "Unity of the Nation," Karadaya and Mihaylova are meeting voters and telling citizens that their motherland is ready for the next step in its democratic development and for the inclusion of its ethnic and religious diversity in the country's political life. "We are taking an example from the world's leading democracies - if Barak Hussain Obama can be president of the United States, if Sadiq Khan can be mayor of the British capital London, if Ahmed Aboutaleb can be mayor of Europe's largest port city Rotterdam in the Netherlands, then Mustafa can be president of Bulgaria," Karadaya explains at the meeting with citizens. Not everyone in the country is enthusiastic about this message. Until last spring, the extreme right in Bulgaria held leading positions in the government. During that election campaign, there were incidents in which minority representatives became the target of a discriminatory campaign apparently directed by political or administrative circles. In the case of the attack on the LGBTI center in Sofia, the prosecutor's office reacted quickly, but this was not the case with the harassment of representatives of ethnic and religious minorities. Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP, co-chair of the ALDE Party in Europe, and Adrián Vázquez Lázara MEP, chair of the Legal Affairs Committee in the European Parliament, warned at a press conference in the town of Kardzhali that these practices were not in line with national and European law. The upcoming elections will show whether Bulgarian citizens are ready to take the next step in the phase of national inclusive development. It is now in the hands of Bulgarian voters how the country's progressiveness will be judged and who will reside in the presidential palace for the next five years.
Contact: Meister Mandeltree Kommunikation GmbH Berlin / Germany Email: office@mandeltree.de Phone: +49 30 2359 18680 Web: www.meistermandeltree.de End of Media Release
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Additional features: Picture: https://eqs-cockpit.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=99382cab817c0b0a34d32e6cc738d8be Subtitle: Mustafa Karadaya is the first minority representative nominated for the presidential elections in Bulgaria. MEP Iskra Mihaylova running for Vice-President
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Issuer: Meister Mandeltree Kommunikation GmbH Key word(s): Politics
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 11, 2021 06:17 ET (11:17 GMT)
