Bulgaria's GERB Party Resubmits Govt No-Confidence Vote

Politics » DOMESTIC | September 26, 2013, Thursday // 11:22
Bulgaria: Bulgaria's GERB Party Resubmits Govt No-Confidence Vote GERB MP and former Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova insisted that Thursday's parliament sitting was illegitimate and informed that GERB would seek the resignation of Parliament Speaker Mihail Mikov over the breach of procedure through which h

MPs of center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) have submitted a second no-confidence vote against the government over the failed investment planning policy.

On Thursday, shortly before 11 am, the second no-confidence motion was submitted by GERB members Lilyana Pavlova, Dimitar Glavchev, Dimitar Lazarov and Krasimir Velchev.

"We see a detrimental breach of the Constitution and the Parliament's rules of procedure. No debate is taking place right now, this is mere fake speechifying," said Pavlova, former Regional Development Minister.

She insisted that Thursday's parliament sitting was illegitimate and informed that GERB would seek the resignation of Parliament Speaker Mihail Mikov over the breach of procedure through which he opened the sitting.

Glavchev argued that what was happening in Parliament was an unprecedented case in legal history and it was unclear who was holding debates with whom.

Krasimir Velchev insisted that political violence was being committed in Bulgaria's Parliament and claimed that GERB would not hesitate to leave Parliament again, just as it did during the peak of anti-government protests and before the summer recess.

Earlier on Thursday, after the parliament sitting was declared open without a prior electronic registration, GERB leader Boyko Borisov threatened to refer the breach of the Parliament's rules of procedure to the Constitutional Court.

The plenary sitting started after a 30-minute break declared due to the lack of a quorum, despite the fact that the MPs of three parliamentary groups, GERB, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) were in attendance.

The members of the parliamentary group of nationalist party Ataka are on a visit to Brussels.

After the 30-minute break, Mikov asked the quaestors to count the MPs in the hall because it was obvious that they were "enough" and declared the sitting open, despite the protests of GERB that the rules of procedure required electronic registration.

As a result, the debates on the no-confidence motion started.

On Thursday, for a second day in a row, GERB MPs refused to register for voting, thereby blocking the parliament sitting on the no-confidence motion they initiated a week ago over the failed investment planning policy of the socialist-led coalition government.

In order for a no-confidence motion to pass, it has to be supported by 121 MPs. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) have 120 MPs, but DPS member Delyan Peevski is not taking part in the work of the Parliament due to his undecided MP status after his controversial appointment as Chair of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) was revoked by Parliament five days after its approval on June 14.

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Tags: GERB, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), no-confidence vote, ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, DPS, Ataka, Boyko Borisov

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