Bulgaria’s Parliament will Not Work on Friday due to Eid al-Fitr

With 220 votes in favor, the parliament created a temporary committee that should draft the new parliament's rules of procedure. It will have 12 representatives from each parliamentary group, and GERB deputy Radomir Cholakov was elected chairman.
The deputies also accepted the proposal of the Movement of Rights and Freedoms (DPS) that April 21 be a non-working day, as it is the first day of Eid al-Fitr. During the voting, "Vazrazhdane" was "against", and "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" abstained.
"Vazrazhdane" (Revival) objected on the grounds that neither the Rules of the National Assembly nor the Labor Code allow such a decision. It was pointed out that there is a possibility for any deputy to submit a request to the speaker of the parliament to be absent. Kostadin Kostadinov said:

"According to Art. 13 para. 4 of the Constitution, religion is not used for political purposes. We are setting a precedent because in our parliament, in addition to Eastern Orthodox and Muslims, there are also representatives of other religious denominations."

Gunay Hussain of the DPS stated that the request was not in conflict with the Constitution:

"I don't see anything political in this decision! On the contrary, Bulgaria has always been a benchmark for ethnic tolerance".

Follow Novinite.com on Twitter and Facebook

Write to us at editors@novinite.com

Информирайте се на Български - Novinite.bg

/Bulgarian National Radio

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!