Ahmed Dogan, the chairman of honour of Bulgaria’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), expelled Delyan Peevski, the Magnitsky-sanctioned operational co-leader, and his allies from the party on August 27. 

The move has the potential to seriously reshuffle the political scene in the country ahead of the October 27 snap general election.

It is too early to predict what the political consequences of Dogan’s move will be. If Peevski, who allegedly controls key institutions of the judiciary, responds, this could trigger a war that would weaken the DPS ahead of the October 27 vote.

The war could hypothetically spill out and affect other key parties, such as Boyko Borissov’s Gerb, the largest party in the current parliament. It could potentially create room for new political project or further boost far-right parties, particularly pro-Russian Vazrazhdane. Pro-Western Change Continues-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) could also mobilise and perform better, gaining more influence.

Peevski, until recently Dogan’s closest ally, was picked personally by Dogan to head the party in co-leadership with Dzhevdet Chakarov. At the time, Dogan said Peevski was a “phenomenon” in Bulgarian politics.

However, Peevski quickly started replacing key people loyal to Dogan and filling public posts with his own people. The situation escalated in early July, when Dogan urged DPS’s parliamentary group not to back the Gerb-nominated government, while Peevski ordered MPs to back it. The DPS parliamentary group split and the two leaders started an open war.

In a statement released on Facebook, the DPS press centre, controlled by Dogan, said that the chairman of honour has called a session of the Central Operation Bureau, which decided to expel not only Peevski but ten other key members who chose his side in the conflict, including district governors.

“The systematic violation of the party’s statute by the above-mentioned persons, the failure to implement the decisions of the national conference [of the DPS], the collective bodies of the party and the chairman of honour of the DPS,” the party said in the statement.

“[They] put at risk not only the party’s unity, but its existence with the ideas and the philosophy of the party’s founder – Dr. Ahmed Dogan – on which the statute of DPS and the programme documents are based,” it added.

Peevski responded, saying the decision was illegitimate as there was no quorum at the session.

“I saw that there was a meeting of separatists from the DPS, who were expelled from the parliamentary group, and after they tried to steal the DPS brand, they also lost their qualities. This anti-constitutional action shows people who live in the parallel world of fairy tales from the seraglio [Dogan’s residence]. These people must understand one thing – this is European Bulgaria and everything happens in it according to the law,” Peevski stated.

DPS-Dogan (after the rift between the two leaders each of them got his own press centre, signing as DPS-Dogan and DPS-Peevski respectively) claimed that the Central Operational Bureau (COB) is a permanent governing body and carries out the operational political leadership.

“Under this provision, the COB not only can but should adopt all decisions related to the operational work of the party, all decisions related to the operational work of the party, all decisions related to the functioning of the party and its participation in the political process,” DPS-Dogan said.

If Peevski’s claim turns out to be true, the decision can be annulled by a court.

However, people close to Dogan say he is a strategist who would not act without securing against all possible risks.

Before the August 27 move, key assets of Dogan, including the palace he lives in, the Varna coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) and other companies were transferred to another person. It is not yet clear whether that was Dogan’s move to protect his assets, or was a move by Peevski to take over the sources of income of the chairman of honour.