As Bulgaria prepares for its seventh general election in nearly four years, DPS co-leader Delyan Peevski poses a number of obstacles in talks to form a regular government in Sofia.
Peevski is under US and UK sanctions for alleged corruption. Nikolai Denkov, Bulgaria’s prime minister until March this year and current leader of the Continuing Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) parliamentary group, stated:
“As long as Peevski is in the political terrain, we have no chance to talk with DPS on policies. If Peevski is removed from the political terrain – then we will already be able to talk.”
Denkov’s statement coincides with a split in the Turkish minority party DPS (Renew Europe), the second political force in the country, co-chaired by Peevski. For the past two weeks, Peevski has been pursuing a power politics in his party, allegedly trying to expel many influential members close and loyal to DPS founder Ahmed Dogan, although the latter is not an MP.
Under Peevski’s leadership, 30 DPS deputies supported the election of a government with a GERB mandate, although their votes were not enough. However, another 17 deputies from the party followed Dogan’s request and voted against the GERB government. Immediately after the vote, a real storm erupted in the local structures of the DPS, most of whose members declared their loyalty to Dogan.
The events in the DPS represent a major upheaval in Bulgarian political life, as the DPS positions itself as “the guarantor of the peaceful Bulgarian ethnic model.”
The party gives a secular character to the 10 per cent Turkish minority in the country and has been pursuing a policy of independence from Ankara for more than 30 years. Meanwhile, the party has been accused of corruption and clientelism, with Dogan and Peevski being the main targets.
At the same time, the pro-European PP-DB coalition is taking advantage of Peevski’s precarious position in the party and demanding that he leave politics in order to negotiate a government with the DPS and GERB. Denkov stated:
This proposal should be discussed carefully. It has its advantages, but it also has its problems.
Bulgaria’s political crisis began in 2021 with the ouster of then Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his GERB party, political analyst Ivo Indzhov recalls.
“GERB could interact much more easily with DPS if it did not have Peevski casting a dark shadow over it. The same goes for PP-DB.”
