MRF Bulgaria elect new leader at 9th National Congress - Main contents
Mustafa Karadaya was elected the new leader of the Movement of Rights and Freedoms at its 9th National Congress held on Sunday in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Mr Karadaya, a member of Parliament since May 2013, had been serving as one of the party’s three interim leaders since December when the party’s former leader Lyutvi Mestan was expelled after being accused by honorary chair Ahmed Dogan of serving Turkish interests.
Upon his election, Mr Karadaya thanked Mr Dogan and the participants in conference, saying: “the unprecedented change in the executive representation of the party took place in response to the attempt to substitute MRF’s cause.”
“One of the goals of this change is to prompt the process of reform and modernisation of MRF with a clear vision for development based on our fundamental liberal values, i.e. freedom, including freedom of identity, and unity, in the form of keeping the party structures and maintaining close interconnection between all levels of management and MRF’s members,” he said.
ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP spoke at the opening of the Congress and praised the work of the four MRF MEPs in the European Parliament, noting that the MRF Party’s Youth Chairmain and MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk was elected a member of the ALDE Party Bureau at the Congress in Budapest in November 2015.
Liberal International Vice President Woodthorpe Browne, Liberal International Secretary General Emil Kirjas and former ALDE Party President Sir Graham Watson spoke at the Congress. ALDE Group leader Guy Verhofstadt and HNS Honorary President Vesna Pusić delivered video messages.
In addition to electing a new party leader, the ninth national conference also adopted changes to the party’s statute and the Political Declaration on Programme Documents of the MRF.