Bulgaria's 6th Largest Parliament Group Dissolved
Domestic | August 1, 2015, Saturday // 08:40| viewsThe Bulgarian Democratic Center group had been formed around the party of MEP Nikolay Barekov (not pictured). Photo by BGNES
The sixth-biggest group in Bulgaria's Parliament dissolved itself on Friday after five of the MPs belonging to it submitted requests to leave it.
Previously, the lawmakers had threatened to quit unless a name dispute is settled.
Bulgarian Democratic Center (BDC), a group that was dominated by a party currently bearing the same name, had 14 MPs, in a legislature of 240, but with the five renegades the number fell just below the ten lawmakers required.
This comes after a dispute between BDC party members and the five (which include the group's co-chair), who are not part of the BDC, over the name of the group.
Svetlin Tanchev, who was group co-chair and who is among the five to quit, had earlier registered a party called People's Union which he insisted should be included in the group's name.
BDC was set up by lawmakers who were previously part of a coalition led by MEP Nikolay Barekov and made it into Parliament within an alliance led by his Bulgaria without Censorship party.
However, most of lawmakers belonging to Barekov's party quit, some of them pledging loyalty to Lider, a party widely thought to be run by businessman Hristo Kovachki which later renamed itself to Bulgarian Democratic Center.
Of the five lawmakers who left (but who remain MPs), some, like Svetlin Tanchev and Rumen Yonchev, had spintered off their parties in the previous legislature to become part of Bulgaria without Censorship.
The dissolution of the group means its lawmakers will not be able to head parliamentary committees or to have a Parliament Deputy Speaker.
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