Order, Law and Justice

Order, Law and Justice (Bulgarian: Ред, законност и справедливост, Red, zakonnost i spravedlivost, RZS) was a conservative political party in Bulgaria. Its main focus is on fighting crime and corruption.[1] It won the minimum ten seats in the National Assembly at the 2009 election, making it the smallest of the six parties in the legislature.[9] Later some of the deputies left the parliamentary group and it broke the minimum of ten, which inevitably made all parliamentary representatives of the party independent deputies.

Order, Law and Justice

Ред, законност и справедливост
LeaderYane Yanev
Founded2005
Dissolved2013
HeadquartersSofia
IdeologyConservatism[1][2][3]
Populism[4][5]
Political positionCentre-right[1][6] to
right-wing[7][8]
European affiliationNone
International affiliationNone
ColoursBlue and orange
National Assembly:
0 / 240
European Parliament:
0 / 17
Website
www.rzs.bg

It is led by Yane Yanev, who has frequently revealed classified documents backing up his claims of corruption.[10] The party is close to the British Conservative Party.[1]

The logo of Order, Law and Justice is a blue and orange checkerboard pattern.

History

The party was founded by renaming and reforming the National Association - Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union (NS-BZNS), which had been part of the United Democratic Forces, decided on the fourth congress of the NS-BZNS in the end of 2005. Its main goal is fighting corruption.[10] In the 2007 European election, RZS won only 0.5% of the vote. By the time of the 2009 election, this had increased to 4.7%, with RZS claiming that only electoral fraud had prevented it from receiving 10%, which would have given it two seats.[11]

A month later, RZS took part in elections to the National Assembly. Its parliamentary ticket was headed by Atanas Semov, a law professor at the University of Sofia. Its platform called for the formation of a stable center-right coalition that would exclude the Bulgarian Socialist Party, a proactive campaign against political corruption, compulsory education until age 16, greater efforts to fight illiteracy, and the rejection of ethnic nationalism in politics.

The election saw RZS win 4.13% of the vote: just clearing the 4% threshold and entitling it to ten seats. The party supported the new centre-right government under Boyko Borisov, but refused to sign an official declaration of support, after pressure from the European Conservatives and Reformists over the involvement of Attack.[12] One of RZS's MPs, Mario Tagarinski, left the party on 9 December 2009, pushing the party below the minimum of ten MPs required to form an official parliamentary group.[9] Another MP, Dimitar Choukarski, left on 11 March 2010, reducing it further to eight MPs.[6]

The party nominated Atanas Semov for president during the 2011 presidential election. He finished seventh with only 1.84% of the popular vote.

In the 2013 parliamentary election the party won only 1.67% of the popular vote and failed to win a seat.

Footnotes
  1. Chary, Frederick B. (2011), The History of Bulgaria, Greenwood, p. xxvi, 173
  2. "Regional Risk Watch: Central Eastern Europe" (PDF). Political Risk Insurance Center. 24 August 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  3. "Bulgaria" (PDF). Nations in Transit 2010. Freedom House. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  4. Ilieva, Tsvetelia; Ivanova, Irina (5 July 2009). "Factbox: Main political parties in Bulgaria". Reuters.
  5. "Parliament worried about Bulgaria TV ban plan". EurActiv. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  6. Kostadinov, Petar (11 March 2010). "Order, Law and Justice party loses one more MP". The Sofia Echo.
  7. "Opposition party wants 11 Cabinet ministers axed over alleged conflict of interests", The Sofia Echo, 14 Jan 2010, retrieved 5 July 2011
  8. "Ataka" Nationalists Compile List of Most Corrupt Bulgarian Politicians, Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), 12 Sep 2008, retrieved 5 July 2011
  9. Kostadinov, Petar (9 December 2009). "Order, Law and Justice parliamentary group officially disbanded". Sofia Echo.
  10. "Borisov's turn". The Economist. 9 July 2009.
  11. "Bulgaria Opposition RZS Suspicious of Vote Manipulation". Sofia News Agency. 8 June 2009.
  12. "Bulgaria Conservative Party Refuses to Sign GERB Memorandum". Sofia News Agency. 17 July 2009.
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