DECISION NO 1 OF FEBRUARY 29, 2000 ON CONSTITUTIONAL CASE NO 3/99

Sixty-one Members of the 38th National Assembly challenged the constitutionality of the political party United Macedonian Organization Ilinden - Party for Economic Development and Integration of the Population (OMO Ilinden-PIRIN) with headquarters in the town of Blagoevgrad.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the challenged party was anti-constitutional

The Constitutional Court assumed that the constitutionality of a party is to be judged primarily on the basis of its activity. Judgment on the basis of a party's statutes and program is not sufficient.

Although registered as a political party in February 1999 OMO Ilinden-PIRIN had an illicit predecessor and is its successor.

As during the clandestine period after the party was registered, its activities are covered by the prohibition in Art. 44 para 2 of the Constitution on organizations acting to the detriment of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity or the unity of the nation. The declarations, appeals, maps that were printed and circulated, the interviews and written statements by that party leaders for Bulgarian and foreign institutions claim that the Pirin region from Bulgaria's territory is part of Macedonia for which they want a status of full autonomy, withdrawal of the Bulgarian troops which they call occupation troops, and the dissolution of all Bulgarian political parties and organizations. The party challenged treats that part of the country's territory as non-Bulgarian, foreign land that has been given to Bulgaria to govern it temporarily under an international treaty. The party seeks, among other things, to separate the territory in question from Bulgaria.

A political party, which claims that part of the country's territory is foreign land and seeks to separate it, is anti-constitutional and has to be outlawed