Bulgaria’s Parliament rejects fifth motion of no confidence in Zhelyazkov government

Bulgaria’s National Assembly voted on September 18 to reject the fifth motion of no confidence in the Rossen Zhelyazkov government that took office in January.

The motion was tabled by the largest opposition coalition, We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB), supported by MPs from minority populist party Mech and the Ahmed Dogan loyalists of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF) group.

In the 240-seat House, 234 MPs voted – 133 against, 101 for, with no abstentions.

The votes against came from the de facto ruling coalition – Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms group led by Magnitsky Act-sanctioned Delyan Peevski, the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left, populist ITN; and four non-aligned MPs.

The votes for came from WCC-DB, pro-Russian party Vuzrazhdane, ARF, Mech and populist-nationalist minority group Velichie.

Those who tabled the motion accused the government of failure in the internal security and justice sectors, saying that this led to “deepening the problem with the conquered state, to a lack of justice and to the impoverishment of Bulgarian citizens”.

The motives for the motion were contained in an 80-page document.

According to the opposition, the basis of everything is the cabinet’s ties to Peevski, who formally does not participate in the government.

“The government in theory functions as a minority government, but the support of the MRF New Beginning which has been present in a more covert form since the first day and in a more overt form since the second month of its existence, has been traded for a completely uncontrolled takeover of the institutions by Peevski and the business interests associated with him – personnel, regulatory, procedural and economic,” the document on the no-confidence motion said.

The problem of the “conquered state”, the opposition groups believe, leads to the impoverishment of Bulgarian citizens and a permanent lack of justice.

“These processes are difficult to reverse – the political effort required to build institutions, especially law enforcement ones, is significantly greater than the effort with which they are conquered and turned into an instrument for private interests”.

In a seven-hour debate on September 17, MRF – New Beginning deputy leader Yordan Tsonev described the vote of no confidence as a “grand parade of hypocrisy” led by WCC-DB.

“Hypocrisy is an immanent feature of their community, as they call themselves. A community that is formed by the sons of former communist greats, embraced by Soros,” Tsonev said.

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.

The third, which was rejected on July 4, was tabled by Vuzrazhdane, Mech and Veliche, on the grounds of what they called the failure the government’s fiscal policy, and the fourth, defeated on July 11, was tabled by Velichie, backed by Mech and Vuzrazhdane, on the grounds of failures in environmental policy.