Order, Law and Justice ( bg, Ред, законност и справедливост, Red, zakonnost i spravedlivost, abbreviated as ''RZS'') was a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Its main focus is on fighting crime and corruption. It won the minimum ten seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

at the 2009 election, making it the smallest of the six parties in the legislature. 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. It is led by

Yane Yanev Yane Yanev ( bg, Яне Янев, born 22 April 1971) is a Bulgarian politician, leader of the center-right opposition party Order, Law and Justice and a member of the Bulgarian National Assembly. Known as an "anti-corruption hawk" that has broug ...

, who has frequently revealed classified documents backing up his claims of corruption. The party is close to the British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. 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 Order, Law and Justice ( bg, Ред, законност и справедливост, Red, zakonnost i spravedlivost, abbreviated as ''RZS'') was a conservative political party in Bulgaria. Its main focus is on fighting crime and corruption. It ...

(NS-BZNS), which had been part of the

United Democratic Forces The United Democratic Forces ( bg, Обединени Демократични Сили, ОДС/ODS) were a center-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria, led by the Union of Democratic Forces. Members of the coalition 1997 * Union of Democrati ...

, decided on the fourth congress of the NS-BZNS in the end of 2005. Its main goal is fighting corruption. 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 Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

had prevented it from receiving 10%, which would have given it two seats. A month later, RZS took part in elections to the

. Its parliamentary ticket was headed by

Atanas Semov Atanas is a name. Its most common use is a masculine given name in Bulgarian and Macedonian, derived from Greek Athanasios, "immortal". It can also be a surname. List People with the name Atanas include: Given name * Atanas Andonov (born 1955), ...

, a law professor at the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

. Its platform called for the formation of a stable center-right coalition that would exclude the

Bulgarian Socialist Party The Bulgarian Socialist Party ( bg, Българска социалистическа партия, translit=Balgarska sotsialisticheska partiya, BSP), also known as The Centenarian ( bg, Столетницата, links=no, translit=Stoletnitsat ...

, a proactive campaign against political corruption, compulsory education until age 16, greater efforts to fight illiteracy, and the rejection of

ethnic nationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...

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 Boyko Metodiev Borisov ( bg, Бойко Методиев Борисов, ; born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as the prime minister of Bulgaria from 2009 to 2013, 2014 to 2017, and 2017 to 2021, making him Bulgaria's secon ...

, but refused to sign an official declaration of support, after pressure from the

European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European pol ...

over the involvement of Attack. 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 A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

. Another MP, Dimitar Choukarski, left on 11 March 2010, reducing it further to eight MPs. The party nominated

for president during the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

presidential election. He finished seventh with only 1.84% of the popular vote. In the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

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

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Order Law And Justice Anti-corruption parties Centre-right parties in Europe Conservative parties in Bulgaria Defunct conservative parties National conservative parties Nationalist parties in Bulgaria Political parties established in 2005 2005 establishments in Bulgaria Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe member parties European Conservatives and Reformists member parties Right-wing parties in Europe Right-wing populist parties Populist parties 2013 disestablishments in Bulgaria Political parties disestablished in 2013