Bulgaria’s Parliament rejects third motion of no confidence in Zhelyazkov government
Bulgaria’s National Assembly voted on July 4 to reject the third motion of no confidence in the Rossen Zhelyazkov government that took office in January.
In the 240-seat Parliament, the vote was 130 against and 54 in favour.
The motion was tabled by pro-Russian party Vuzrazhdane and populist-nationalist parties Mech and Veliche, on the grounds of the government’s fiscal policy.
The votes against came from Boiko Borissov’s centre-right GERB-UDF coalition, the largest group in Parliament and holder of the mandate to govern; Magnitsky-Act sanctioned Delyan Peevski’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms group; the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left coalition and populist ITN, both part of the ruling majority; and the four non-aligned MPs.
The votes in favour came from Vuzrazhdane, Mech and Veliche.
The opposition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria coalition and the Ahmed Dogan loyalists of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms did not participate in the vote.
The debate preceding the vote, held on July 3 for about three and a half hours, saw the motion’s backers repeating various allegations about Bulgaria’s expected forthcoming accession to the euro zone, in spite of the fact of these claims having repeatedly been discredited.
Parliament’s largest opposition group, the We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria coalition, rejecting participation in the motion of no confidence, with Democratic Bulgaria’s Atanas Atanassov denouncing it as Vuzrazhdane trying to play the role of opposition and being “a Trojan horse for Russia in Bulgaria”.
Boiko Borissov, leader of GERB-UDF, the majority partner in the ruling coalition, on July 3 described the succession of motions of no confidence as a waste of Parliament’s time.
The first motion of no confidence in the Zhelyazkov was tabled by Vuzrazhdane in April, on the grounds of foreign policy, and the second was tabled later in April by Mech, on the grounds of corruption.
On July 3, Velichie said that if the July 4 vote was defeated, it would table a motion of no confidence next week on the grounds of what it called “Bulgaria’s environmental crisis”.
WCC-DB has said that it would table a motion of no confidence after final confirmation that Bulgaria is to join the euro zone, a process that the coalition says it does not want to sabotage.
WCC-DB’s Ivailo Mirchev said on July 3 that the tabling would take place no earlier than September. He said that there was already a “bouquet” of grounds for a motion of no confidence.
WCC leader Assen Vassilev told reporters on July 4 that after confirmation that Bulgaria is to join the euro zone, the party would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to support motions of no confidence.
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