For third consecutive day, Bulgaria’s Parliament fails to sit

For a third consecutive day, Bulgaria’s Parliament failed to proceed with its sitting on September 26 because of a lack of a quorum.

In the 240-seat National Assembly, at least 121 MPs must register as present for there to be a quorum, but September 26 saw only 111 – from the ruling majority – doing so.

As they had done on September 24 and 25, MPs from opposition groups declined to register as present.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Natalia Kiselova, did not even attempt a second count and closed the meeting after the first one: “111 MPs are registered. There is no quorum. Today’s plenary session will not be opened. Next regular session – October 1, at 9am”.

Boiko Borissov confirmed that MPs from his GERB-UDF group, Parliament’s largest, are outside the country – in Japan, France and other countries, but gave an assurance that they will be returning to Parliament.

Opposition groups hold that the onus to secure a quorum for proceedings is on the ruling majority, and have refused to provide the numbers for a quorum because of a refusal to include on the Order Paper items that they want debated.