The Bulgarian parliament will convene at its first plenary sitting for the new year on Wednesday.

Bulgarian MPs enjoyed 25 days of holiday after going into Christmas recess on December 19 last year.

The parliamentary represented parties are expected to outline their priorities for the new political season.

The end of last year was characterised with tensions and splits within the junior coalition partner, the Reformist Bloc (RB) and the second largest opposition party – the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS).

After the failure of parliament to adopt all the amendments to the constitution concerning the reform of the judiciary, which had been proposed by former Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov, one of the parties constituting RB withdrew its support for the government.

The tensions within DPS began after a declaration expressing support for Turkey over the downing of the Russian Su-24 bomber by Turkish fighter jets near the Turkish-Syrian bomber in November last year.

At an extraordinary meeting of the governing council on 24 December 2015, DPS dismissed its chairperson Lyutvi Mestan and excluded him from the party.

Five MPs from the party expressed their support for Mestan and decided to follow him by leaving the parliamentary group of DPS.

Thus the parliamentary group of DPS was reduced to 30 MPs, while the number of non-affiliated MPs rose to 11.

The new political season will begin with negotiations between the largest ruling party GERB and the junior coalition partner RB over the update of the coalition agreement between the two parties.

The annex to the agreement is expected to be signed by the end of the month, most likely before January 25, and it is likely to outline deadlines for implementation of the planned reforms.

The two largest opposition parties – BSP and DPS will initiate negotiations for tabling the first vote of no confidence against the incumbent government.

Among the topics dominating the new political season will be the judicial reform and the improvements of the anti-corruption legislation.

The parliament has also to discuss the results of last year's referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting, in which the majority of Bulgarians voted "yes".

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his deputies are expected to be the subject of parliamentary question and answer session over last week's high-profile murders in Sofia.

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