Lyutvi Mestan

All Bulgarian media outlets, websites included, should take off a campaign video which shows Turkey's Ambassador Suleyman Gokce, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has ruled.

Earlier, the Council on Electronic Media (CEM) referred the case to the Foreign Ministry, after the video had sparked outrage from nationalst VMRO party.

Right-wingers and nationalists have in Bulgaria have vented anger over remarks of Turkey's Labour Minister who urged expats to vote for DOST party in the early election on March 26.

Turkish Labour and Social Policy Minister Mehmet Müezzinoglu has called on Turkey-based expatriates from Bulgaria to vote for DOST, the party of ex-DPS leader Lyutvi Mestan, Bulgarian and Turkish media report.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) has come under fire for nominating two former members of far-right Ataka party for the upcoming general election in Bulgaria, Anadolu Agency writes.

Austria's Ambassador to Sofia Roland Hauser has turned out to be the most popular personality in Novinite's 2016 poll.

Apart from winning the contest's Diplomacy category, Mr Hauser has obtained the biggest share of votes among all nominees.

Five parties would make it to the Bulgarian Parliament in the event of a hypothetical election, a survey shows less than six weeks out of a parliamentary vote due in March.

In a poll by Trend Research Center, commissioned by 24 Chasa, Boyko Borisov's GERB party is maintaining a narrow lead on the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) of Korneliya Ninova.

Two ethnic Turk-dominated parties will run together in the Bulgarian early election on March 26.

Their coalition will be named Union DOST, after one of the parties, according to the Bulgarian National Radio.

Novinite is publishing highlights of the year, using only one selection criteria: those which gained the biggest reader interest throughout 2016 have made it into the shortlist.

The events are ordered chronologically, according to the moment they began, even if their major development occurred over the months to come.

The main ruling party's presidential candidate Tsetska Tsacheva won the biggest share of the vote in two Turkish cities with a high concentration of expats, electoral statistics show.

DOST head Lyutvi Mestan has announced his party will back the candidacy of Tsetska Tsacheva, the nominee of Bulgaria's main ruling party, in the presidential elections.

Mestan's announcement comes to no surprise, as he earlier indicated the Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance (DOST) may endorse GERB's candidate unless he ran himself as leader of the party.