DSB to Remain Part of Junior Partner in Bulgaria’s Governing Coalition

DSB leader Radan Kanev (2-L) at the party's national conference in Sifia, Bulgaria, 13 March 2016. Photo by BGNES

Right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) have decided to remain part of the junior partner in the coalition government, the Reformist Bloc (RB), bTV broadcaster reported.

The delegates to the party's national conference in Sofia on Sunday also decided that DSB will remain in opposition to the minority coalition cabinet composed of centre-right GERB and the RB.

“I won’t seek a mandate to leave the Reformist Bloc; I will fight to take it back where it belongs – to the voters,” DSB leader Radan Kanev told the conference.

Sunday’s decision to carry on as part of the RB was opposed by DSB members who said the bloc of five parties which controls 23 of the 240 seats in parliament, has already been exhausted as political project  - a point made earlier by Kanev himself.

The delegates to the conference also adopted a new party charter which makes it easier to expel party members, according to bTV.

DSB will have a standing Executive Council and a Civic Council under the new charter. The Executive Council comprising the party leadership on national and regional level will set out coalition policies and the political objectives and strategies of DSB. The advisory Civic Council will be composed of experts in various fields as well as prominent representatives of business, academic and sports circles with no party affiliation.

Expectations that Health Minister Petar Moskov will be expelled from DSB at the conference failed to materialize.

Moskov has remained as Health Minister in the minority coalition government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov even after Kanev announced in December 2015 that it was withdrawing support for the cabinet in disagreement over the rejection of proposals for judicial reform by parliament. DSB has been strongly in favour of the reform proposals and failure to push them through parliament forced Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov to resign.

Moskov left the position of DSB deputy chairman in December 2015 after the party moved into opposition. He was absent from Sunday’s conference.

 

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