In Saturday's Bulgarian parliamentary elections, the ethnically Turkish-backed Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HOH) Party, led by Ahmet Dogan, managed to increase its representation in the 240 seat Sofia Parliament to 33 seats. Gathering a total of 444,509 votes, HOH's success was seen as rooted in vigorous participation from neighboring Turkey, where many citizens maintain dual Bulgarian-Turkish citizenship and thus voting rights, as well as an overall low turnout in the elections. Voter participation in this year's elections dropped to a low %56 of eligable voters.

98% of Turkish-Bulgarians voting from Turkey vote for HOH
 
Support from ethnic Bulgarians and Gypsies, as well as the fact that a full 98% of ethnic Turks living in Turkey but voting in the Bulgarian elections voted for HOH, was seen as the reason behind the relative victory of Ahmet Dogan's HOH Party. There were also some unexpected seat gains, especially in the Bulgarian city of Blagoevgrad, where ethnic Turks do not traditionally reside, which gave HOH three seats. In Haskovo, populated mainly by ethnically Turkish citizens, HOH managed only 3 of the 8 seats up for grabs. In the end, outside of Sofia, HOH managed to get at least one seat in every major city in Bulgaria. Despite the fact the party is perceived as being the party of ethnic Turks, HOH received a total of 40,000 ethnic Bulgarian votes, with 6 Bulgarian MPs on the HOH parliamentary list.
 
Coalition looks likely to include HOH
 
More than half of the seats in the Bulgarian Parliament must come together to form a coalition, which in this case means 121 MPs. With the first place winner in Saturday's elections being the Bulgarian Socialist Party at 83 seats, a coalition with HOH would only come to 116, under the necessary number. Political circles in Sofia however are saying it is likely that whatever coalition is formed will include HOH, as well as the Bulgarian Socialist Party. Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburgotski, whose party lost 60% of its votes in these elections, is said to be giving signals that he would cooperate with a coalition of HOH and Bulgarian Socialist forces.  (Hürriyetim)