Lawmakers are set to hold a third and final vote on Monday on constitutional changes that will pave the way for judicial reform.

The Parliament session follows days of tensions in Bulgaria's coalition government. One of the parties within the Reformist Bloc, the junior government partner, announced it was withdrawing support for the cabinet after Hristo Ivanov resigned as Justice Minister over MPs' surprising move to reject part of the reform proposals.

Separately, there have been protests of civic organizations since last Wednesday calling for a full-scale judicial reform.

The bone of contention was a proposal which would have allowed Parliament and the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office to appoint an equal number of judges and prosecutors to each of the respective colleges of the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), a body widely described as a "government of the judiciary".

No changes to texts agreed on a second reading last week are possible now, with lawmakers only holding a vote on the entire set of proposals that were passed last Wednesday.

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