Ataka leader Volen Siderov. Photo by BGNES
The parliamentary group of Bulgarian far-right party Ataka may collapse, as three more dissenters are reportedly set to leave it.
Ataka MPs Ognyan Stoichkov, Nikolay Pehlivanov and Yavor Notev will leave the Ataka group, thus leading to its break-up, the Trud daily has reported. The report has been fueled by the three lawmakers' refusal to sign the no-confidence motion that entered the country's Parliament on Friday.
Initially, Ataka's parliamentary group consisted of 19 MPs, but a number of dissents left it with just 10 lawmakers, which is the bare minimum.
Marginal patriotic parties were created by several of the dissenters, the most recent being the National Democratic Party established by Kapka Siderova, the estranged wife of Ataka leader Volen Siderov, and her son, MEP Dimitar Stoyanov.
The no-confidence motion submitted on Friday by Ataka and left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, a move was triggered by what they believe is ruling centrist-right GERB's failure in the energy sphere. Last week, the GERB government decided to scrap the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, a project backed by Ataka and BSP.