Bulgaria's Rightist GERB Sabotaged Appointment of Replacement MPs

Bulgaria's 42nd National Assembly held its inaugural meeting Tuesday. Photo by BGNES

Center-right party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) is said to have sabotaged Tuesday's sitting of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) scheduled to appoint replacements of Iliyana Yotova and Rumen Stoyanov from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) who gave up their seats.

Bulgaria's 42nd National Assembly held its inaugural meeting Tuesday.

According to reports of dnevnik.bg, as a result of GERB's move, Wednesday's sitting of Parliament will be attended by 238 MPs, not 240, and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party will have a total of 118 votes against 120 votes for GERB + nationalist party Ataka.

According to the final vote count of the May 12 elections, GERB + Ataka have 120 seats, and DPS + BSP – another 120 in the 240-seats unicameral Parliament.

The two missing BSP MPs are expected to further complicate the task of BSP and DPS to secure a quorum for the plenary sessions.

Ataka leader Volen Siderov and 15 other MPs of Ataka refused to register for voting during Tuesday's inaugural sitting of Bulgaria's 42nd National Assembly, which helped the socialists appoint Mihail Mikov Speaker of the new Bulgarian Parliament.

According to dnevnik.bg, Siderov's move indicated his intentions to play a decisive role in the 42nd National Assembly.

Responding to Siderov's step, former Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borisov threatened that the center-right party would also refuse to register for voting, thereby sabotaging parliament sittings.

At the end of Tuesday's parliament sitting, the CEC received a letter from Parliament saying that MEP Iliyana Yotova and Rumen Stoyanov, Mayor of the southern city of Kalofer, had not taken an oath of office.

A sitting of CEC was scheduled for 2.30 pm but it was only attended by 11 members from the quotas of BSP, DPS, Ataka and the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NDSV) party.

According to the rules of procedure of CEC, the sitting is valid if no less than 12 members are in attendance.

CEC was expected to replace Yotova and Stoyanov with the next MP candidates on the list of BSP.

The CEC members from GERB explained their non-attendance with private engagements.

The replacements of Yotova and Stoyanov cannot take an oath on Wednesday because the CEC sitting is scheduled for 9 am, when the parliament sitting starts.

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