Upset over false claim Kouneva’s party is withdrawing confidence from Borissov government
Meglena Kouneva, leader of the Bulgaria for Citizens Movement – part of the Reformist Bloc, minority partner in the coalition government – is approaching the State Agency for National Security over the hacking of their website and the issuing of a false media statement that the party was withdrawing its confidence in the Boiko Borissov cabinet.
This was a moment of melodrama on December 10 in the wake of the Reformist Bloc’s Hristo Ivanov’s resignation as Justice Minister in protest against the version of constitutional amendments on the judiciary approved at second reading by Bulgaria’s National Assembly on December 9.
Ivanov’s resignation was followed by statements by Radan Kanev, leader of the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, a constituent party of the Reformist Bloc, that he was stepping down as co-leader of the bloc’s parliamentary group and would from now on oppose the coalition government. Soon afterwards, another Reformist Bloc MP resigned as head of Parliament’s transport committee, also as a consequence of Ivanov’s resignation.
On the afternoon of December 10, a media statement rapidly widely reported by the Bulgarian-language media said that the party of Kouneva, who is one of four deputy prime ministers in the Borissov cabinet, was withdrawing its confidence in the government and the party’s executive council was to ask all ministers and deputy ministers from Kouneva’s party to quit their government posts.
The statement was seized on eagerly by media in the hours of a day that has seen speculation about the disintegration of the Reformist Bloc and perhaps even a realignment of political forces in the cabinet or beyond that, even the collapse of the governing coalition.
But within minutes, Kouneva’s party told the media that the statement that was purported to have come from it was fake and that it would ask SANS to investigate.
