Bulgaria’s National Assembly accepts BSP leader Stanishev’s resignation as MP
In a vote of 171 in favour, three against and with five abstentions, Bulgaria’s National Assembly agreed on June 27 to accept Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Sergei Stanishev’s resignation as an MP.
Stanishev submitted his resignation from the National Assembly to take up the seat to which he was elected on May 25 2014 as one of four BSP members of the European Parliament. Bulgaria has 17 seats in the European Parliament.
Stanishev’s resignation from Parliament was a reverse of his oft-repeated promise that should he be elected as an MEP, he would not take up his seat.
June 27 was the third day on which Stanishev’s resignation was on the agenda of the National Assembly. On the two previous days, Parliament failed to secure a quorum to hold its scheduled sittings.
The vote to accept Stanishev’s resignation came a few hours before, as the leader of one of four parties with parliamentary groups in the National Assembly, he was due to attend political consultations on setting a date for early national parliamentary elections.
The timeframe for these elections was agreed on June 17 to be September 28 to October 12, although it remained to be seen whether the four political leaders would, if they agreed at all on June 27 on a date, come up with one within this timeframe.
