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Bulgarian parliamentary candidates worried about Turkish interference

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The leaders of both Bulgarian political parties on the eve of Sunday’s parliamentary elections warned against any “interference” by Turkey in the election campaign with the country’s large Turkish-speaking minority.

“We are categorically opposed to the interference of a foreign country in our internal affairs,” said Kornelia Ninova, head of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (PSB) in an interview with AFP.

She denounced as “open interference” the voting instructions of senior Turkish officials to the Turkish minority in Bulgaria.

Sofia accuses Ankara of supporting the new Turkish minority party Dost (“friend” in Turkish). This minority has about 700,000 people, out of a total population of 7.4 million in Bulgaria, and some 60,000 Turkish citizens with Bulgarian citizenship vote in Turkey. “This interference is unacceptable,” echoed Boïko Borissov, former prime minister and head of the conservatives (Gerb) questioned by AFP. He nevertheless calls for “diplomacy” with Turkey, which borders on Bulgaria.

A new Turkish-speaking group in Bulgaria, Dost, supported by Ankara, aims to compete with the traditional party of the Bulgarian Turkish minority, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MDL) with the reserved attitude towards Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan . The MDL is the third formation of the outgoing parliament.

The Socialists and Conservatives are given the elbow-to-elbow before the Sunday elections and may find it difficult to find a majority. The legislative elections follow the resignation of Mr Borissov in mid-term in November after a failure of his presidential candidate against a candidate supported by the Socialists Roumen Radev.

Bulgaria is traditionally one of the most Russian-speaking countries in the European Union and the new head of state is calling for a rebalancing of relations between Sofia and Moscow, without calling into question the alignment of the country with the EU and NATO.

A victory of the Socialists would reinforce this rapprochement. The PSB leader reiterated to AFP his opposition to EU sanctions against Russia “which do not produce the desired political effect.” “Bulgaria and the EU must resume normal dialogue with Russia,” she added. She said she was ready to vote against the renewal of the EU sanctions imposed on Russia because of the Ukrainian conflict if her party came to power.

The European Union links the lifting of sanctions to compliance with the Minsk peace accords on Ukraine. “The sanctions will continue as long as the Minsk peace accords are not respected,” Mr. Borissov told AFP.

“As a member of the European family and loyal member of NATO, we will firmly abide by our commitments” in this regard, he added.

Friday, March 24, 2017,
Stéphane © armenews.co

Armenia: 9 political forces registered to struggle for parliamentary mandate

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YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission registered proportional lists of all political forces willing to participate in the parliamentary elections set for April 2 .

Earlier five parties and 4 blocks submitted applications to participate in the parliamentary elections.

RPA, ARF, Armenian Revival, Free Democrats, the Communist Party of Armenia as well as Tsarukyan alliance, Way Out alliance, the People’s Party and the ANC block, Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian alliance have been registered to struggle for the parliamentary mandate.

Due to the lack of necessary papers, the Commission rejected registration of two candidates from the national list of Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian alliance – Vladimir Arakelyan and Samvel Melikyan.

Serj Tankian to arrive in Armenia to observe April parliamentary election

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serj-tankianYEREVAN. – Famous musician Serj Tankian, who is founder and lead singer of the world-renowned American-Armenian rock band System of a Down (SOAD), will come to Armenia next April, to observe the parliamentary election in the country, Tankian himself informed at a press conference on Monday.

Aside from Serj Tankian, renowned Canadian-Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, famous Canadian-Armenian actress and film producer Arsinée Khanjian—who is also Egoyan’s wife, and several other prominent Diaspora-Armenian intellectuals likewise will arrive in Armenia for this observation mission.

In September, they launched the “Justice Within Armenia” initiative, whose objective is to contribute to the democratic changes in Armenia.

This initiative also plans to train Diaspora-Armenian observers by April, and who will arrive in Armenia to follow the said parliamentary election.

Despite Turkish terrorism on Syrians vote for parliamentary elections going on

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Erlection syriaSyrians go to polls in parliamentary elections against the backdrop of a generally-holding ceasefire in the war-hit country and peace talks between government and opposition.

Polling stations opened at 07:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT), with the official SANA news agency saying they will remain open until 7 p.m. (1800 GMT).

Voting, it said, could be extended for five hours by the Higher Judicial Committee for Elections depending on the turnout which it reported high at the opening hours.

More than 7,300 polling stations have been set up across the government-held regions in the country. Syrian voters are electing members of the 250-seat parliament out of some 3,500 candidates.

A number of opposition parties are running in the race, but the ruling Ba’ath party is expected to prevail. Armed opposition groups have boycotted the vote and called it illegitimate.

A smiling President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma (pictured below) cast their ballots in Damascus and spoke to voters at the polling station.

Walls across the capital Damascus were covered with campaign posters. From the top of one of the city’s tallest buildings a banner proclaimed: “The elections of resistance.”

“I voted because this election will decide the country’s future. I hope that the winners will be true to the nation even before being true to the voters,” Yamin al-Homsi, a 37-year old who voted in Damascus, told AFP.

Samer Issa, a taxi driver, said he had “fulfilled his national duty” by casting his vote.

“Now, it’s up to the winners to fulfill their promises,” the 58-year-old added, according to the French news agency.

The polls coincide with the beginning of a second round of UN-brokered indirect talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Geneva, with the future of President Assad being a key sticking point.

The foreign-backed Syrian opposition says Assad must step down before a transitional government can be established.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem has said the fate of President Assad remains a “red line” for the Syrian government in the Geneva talks.

The last round of the UN-backed peace talks for Syria came to a halt on March 24 over disagreements on the role of Assad in Syria’s future.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will try again to reach a consensus at the talks starting Wednesday in Geneva on ending the war.

The negotiations come at a tense time with a surge in violence in recent days threatening a fragile six-week ceasefire.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 270,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Some reports, however, put the death toll at as high as 470,000.

 

Armenia and Canada parliamentary friendship groups adopt joint declaration

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canada-armenianWithin the framework of Armenian National Assembly (NA) President’s official visit to Canada, NA MP and head of the Armenia-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group, Hovhannes Sahakyan, and head of the Canada-Armenia Friendship Group, Canadian MP Harold Albrecht, signed Tuesday, at the Parliament of Canada in the capital city of Ottawa, a joint declaration of the two friendship groups.

The document is aimed at strengthening relations between the Armenian NA and the Canadian parliament, and expanding their discourse and mutual assistance within international platforms.