The People’s Party for Freedom and Dignity (NPSD), which is part of the Refomist Bloc (RB) coalition, might quit the bloc because of discontent with coalition partners, media reports suggest.

On Friday the Deputy Minister of Defence, Orhan Ismailov, who is the only representative of the NPSD holding such post, reportedly announced his plans to resign because of structural changes within the Ministry, proposed by Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev, a RB source has told the news website Dnevnik.bg.

Nenchev heads The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BZNS), a coalition partner of NPSD within the RB.

Ismailov complained he has not been informed in advance about the proposed changes for the merger of two of the main departments within the Ministry.

Under Nenchev’s proposal, from February 15 the Ministry’s Defence Acquisition Directorate and Directorate General for Defence Infrastructure, the main body that allocates public procurements under Ismailov’s management, will merge into Directorate General Defence Acquisition.

The beginning of Orhan Ismailov’s mandate as Defence Deputy Minister was marked by strong disagreement coming from the Patriotic Front (PF), a nationalist party backing the government. However, PF backtracked after being offered the Sofia Deputy Governor's seat. 

After the announcement of probable resignation, NPSD declared intentions to request another Deputy Ministerial post not excluding the possibility to leave the block and move into opposition because of continuous dissatisfaction with the actions of their coalition partners.

If NPSD’s intentions are confirmed and the party materialises them, it will be the second party after the right-wing party Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB) to shake the RB.

In December 2015, DSB withdrew its support for the government and moved into opposition.

On January 23, DSB leader, Radan Kanev, announced the beginning of a new political project in the right political spectrum centered around DSB, which will have nothing to do with the RB.