Covid-19: Bulgarian MP expelled from sitting for refusal to wear mask
A member of Parliament for the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, Rossen Malinov, was expelled from the October 23 sitting of the National Assembly for refusing to wear a protective mask, Bulgarian National Television reported.
After the Speaker of the National Assembly Tsveta Karayancheva called on all MPs to wear protective masks, Malinov refused to put on his own. He also refused a mask brought to him by a parliamentary official, ostentatiously putting it on for a few seconds and then removing it, the report said.
The incident took place on the same morning that a fellow BSP MP, Dragomir Stoynev, posted on Facebook that he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Stoynev is the sixth member of Bulgaria’s Parliament to have tested positive.
On October 21, Parliament’s smallest party, Volya, announced that one of its MPs, Simeon Naidenov, had tested positive. The party said that Naidenov had mild symptoms and had self-isolated.
The same day, BNT said that a parliamentary administration official had tested positive.
Bulgarian rules to prevent the spread of Covid-19 require the wearing of protective masks or a suitable face covering in indoor public places. There have been periodic disputes about whether the National Assembly hall is a public place.
(Photo: parliament.bg)
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