Leaders of right-wing opposition parties reacted strongly against the words of Ahmed Dogan, leader of ruling coalition party the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), that he was the centre of power in Bulgaria and distributed all the financing in the country.

On June 25 2009, private terrestrial broadcaster Nova Televisia showed an amateur video recording of a speech delivered by Dogan in front of MRF supporters in the village of Kochan on June 18, at an election meeting ahead of the July 5 elections.

"The power is concentrated in me, not in your MP who can not solve problems but only adopt laws," Dogan told his supporters. He goes on to say: "I am the instrument of power, who distributes the bits of financing in the state. MPs don't have power".

Among the first to react was Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, leader of the biggest party in opposition - the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (abbreviated as GERB in Bulgarian).

"What is scandalous here is not that Dogan claims that he was the one distributing the money in Bulgaria but the fact that Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic and he says that MPs are nobodies," Borissov told Bulgarian news agency BTA.

According to Borissov, both President Georgi Purvanov and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev had refrained to comment on Dogan's worlds because "they feel guilty". He referred to the fact that MRF is in the ruling coalition together with Stanishev's Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). The third coalition partner is the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP).

Purvanov had an active role in helping the formation of the coalition in 2005 and is often described by his opponents as the main architect of the outgoing Cabinet.

When asked by reporters in Parliament to comment on Dogan's words, where he was for the final session of Parliament ahead of the elections, Purvanov refused to do so by saying he did not have enough information about Dogan's speech.

At a special news conference dedicated to Dogan's words, Martin Dimitrov, one of the leaders of the right-wing Blue Coalition, said that the BSP and the NMSP were the ones who had created the monster called the MRF, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily said.

Dimitrov referred to Dogan as the godfather of Bulgarian mafia and the MRF as the mafia in the country, Dnevnik said.

"The MRF is a monster which was created by the NMSP, who helped it come to power and by the BSP who gave it the green light," Dimitrov said referring to the fact that an NMSP-MRF coalition ruled the country in 2001/05.

"While Dogan's party is in power Bulgarians will not see any benefits from EU funds," he said. The only way to prevent this was for Bulgarians to come out and vote en masse at the July 5 elections, he said.

"We are strongly against attempts which aim to humiliate, embarrass and manipulate Bulgaria few days ahead of elections" the right-wing coalition between the Lider and New Time parites said in a statement on Dogan's words. "Dogan's arrogance shows that there are people who do not care about Bulgaria's EU future," the statement said.

"We want to say this very clearly - Dogan is not the power in Bulgaria, something which he would soon find out by the most secured and unpleasant way when Bulgarians turn to vote," it said.

Dogan's words that he was the instrument of power who distributed the financing were "the words of a man who has lost touch with reality," the statement said.

Dnevnik quoted MRF MP Aliosman Imamov who said that Dogan's words were taken out of context. Dogan had referred to the municipal policy on financing which was the subject of his statement.

What Dogan has said, according to Imamov, was that everyone had to follow their obligations and duties. The mayor had his duties to attend to while political leaders had their party obligations, according to Imamov's interpretation of his leader's words.