Four Members of the Parliament have left the Parliamentary group of the Bulgarian far-right, nationalist party Ataka.

Borislav Stoyanov, Ognyan Tetimov, Dimitar Karbov, and Petar Hlebarov, deposited their requests Tuesday, just one day ahead of the last Parliamentary session before the Holidays break and of the Ataka congress, which is held in Sofia Wednesday.

Reports the four were planning to become the next Ataka renegades have been circulating in media for some time. Hlebarov is also Chair of the party's Control Assembly and was supposed to deliver a speech and an account of its activities before the congress.

Just at the end of November, the four along with 9 other Ataka MP signed a declaration that they would remain loyal to party leader Volen Siderov.

With the last dissent, the Ataka Parliamentary group now has 10 MPs, which is the bare minimum. Any further similar move would lead to its break-up.

All four say they would not attend the congress because the forum has been already flawed since a committee to prepare the election of a new party leader had not been appointed. It is expected that Siderov will ask the congress for a vote of confidence and receive it from the few, but strong remaining supporters.

In the beginning of November, Ataka was gripped by a scandal after Siderov was asked to step down by MEP Dimitar Stoyanov.

Stoyanov, who happens to be Siderov's stepson, explained his demand with the crushing defeat Ataka suffered at the end-October elections.

The MEP is a natural son to Siderov's Kapka Siderova. The couple split recently, and, allegedly, Ataka's leader now lives with Ataka MP, Denitsa Gadzheva, who is much younger than Kapka. Gadzheva went to the same high school as Stoyanov, and numerous reports also link the two romantically in the past.

Stoyanov was subsequently removed from the party on the grounds of "tarnishing" and "undermining" Ataka's image with his media statements.

On November 6, Tsveta Georgieva left the parliamentary group of Ataka. On November 25, Kalina Krumova announced her decision to quit Ataka, thereby reducing its parliamentary headcount to a total of 14. Prior to them, the nationalist entity parted ways with Kamen Petkov, Valentin Nikolov, Kiril Gumnerov, Ognyan Peycev and Stoyan Ivanov.

Meanwhile, Siderov told the TV channel TV7 he was ready to forgive Stoyanov, if the latter would admit he was wrong in opposing him.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!