Bulgaria’s centre-right GERB party hopes to sign an update to its coalition government agreement with junior partner the Reformist Bloc (RB) by January 25 to confirm commitment to reforms in key sectors, the head of GERB MPs Tsvetan Tsvetanov has said.

The settling of relations with the Reformist Bloc will be GERB’s priority at the start of 2016 after one of the bloc’s constituent political parties, DSB, went into opposition last month, Tsvetanov said in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday.

“I am convinced that what the Reformist Bloc have prepared will become a new foundation for consolidation of their parliamentary group,” Tsvetanov said.

According to Tsvetanov, the signing of a new coalition government agreement will help both partners to pursue their political goals more clearly and more honestly. He also said that GERB will continue to rely on support in parliament for key policies from centre-left ABV party and nationalist Patriotic Front.

DSB withdrew its support for the minority government of GERB and the Reformist Bloc in a row over judicial reform that led to the resignation of Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov last month. Health Minister Petar Moskov, however, opted to resign as DSB deputy-chairman but remain in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

The Reformist Bloc is a loose coalition of five right-wing parties which often come up with diverging opinions. After DSB said it was going into opposition, the other four parties in the bloc called for updating the coalition agreement with GERB to confirm commitment to reform in several areas, including the justice system.

Remote electronic voting would be among the main questions to be discussed during the preparation of the new coalition government agreement with the Reformist Bloc, Tsvetanov said.

“GERB’s position will be ‘for’ the electronic voting and, of course, we will enter a period of change of the current election legislation in order to eliminate any possible defects which could complicate the election process,” Tsvetanov said. 

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