PM Kiril Petkov’s reformist govt lost a no-confidence vote to the opposition on Wednesday, plunging Bulgaria back into political uncertainty.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiri Petkov (C) leaves the parliament after the end of the debate on the vote of no confidence in Sofia, on 21 June 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV
The minority cabinet of Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov lost a no-confidence motion mounted by the opposition on Wednesday.
Of the 240 MPs in the chamber, 123 voted to oust the ruling coalition comprising “We Continue the Change”, Democratic Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Kiril Petkov said after the vote: “It was an honour for me to lead a government that was taken down by [oligarch and Movement for Rights and Freedoms MP] Peevski, [“There’s Such a People” leader] Trifonov, [fomer PM Boyko] Borissov and [Russian ambassador] Mitrofanova. This vote is only a small step on own long way ahead. We’ll continue this battle.”
President Rumen Radev is expected to first hand a new mandate to “We Continue the Change” and if new coalition talks are unfruitful, the mandate will go to GERB, the dominant party between 2009-2021, currently in opposition and seeking a comeback.
A pro-Petkov protest was expected to again take place in Sofia later on Wednesday, while smaller anti-coalition demonstrations are also planned.
On Wednesday, oligarch and MP Delyan Peevski, sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act and mentioned in the Pandora Papers for his offshore assets, attended an anti-government protest, which was smaller than the one supporting the coalition.
All action in the parliament was saved for the actual vote, as earlier on Wednesday no member of the opposition – GERB, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Revival or former coalition partners “There’s Such a People” – appeared for the regular sessions in the morning, so a quorum was not reached.
The no-confidence vote follows the government’s steady loss of a majority in the chamber.
On June 8, “There’s Such a People” leader Slavi Trifonov announced the abrupt exit of his party from the coalition, citing distrust in Prime Minister Petkov on a number of issues.
They included his alleged plans to lift Bulgaria’s blockade on the start of North Macedonia’s EU membership talks, despite unsolved historical disputes and without consulting his coalition partners.
In turn, Petkov said that “There’s Such a People’s” role in the coalition was only to pretend to be reformist, while actually trying to keep going a scheme of state funds going to illegal firms working in infrastructure and dating from the time of former PM Borissov and his GERB party.
Several MPs from “There’s Such a People” have resigned, including the Minister of Youth and Sport, over concerns that the party was influenced by criminal circles.
The latest turbulence has unlocked a wave of pro-government protests in Bulgaria, where many fear new elections will see a higher voter turnout for nationalist parties, or a comeback for former PM Borissov.
On Tuesday, counter-protests were organised by Revival, a nationalist pro-Kremlin party and a recent presence in the parliament.
These demonstrations were in support of the opposition – although the party was until recently an opponent of GERB – with leader Kostadin Kostadinov claiming the fall of the government could free Bulgaria from the EU, seen by them as overshadowing Bulgarian’s true interests and identity.
On June 19, another party friendly to the Kremlin was officially established, Bulgarian Rise, headed by Stefan Yanev, a former interim PM and advisor to President Rumen Radev.
Despite siding with Revival in voting against the coalition, Borissov has expressed support for Petkov in finding a quick resolution to the conflict with North Macedonia and reconfirmed his pro-EU position.
“We won’t be on the dark side of Eurasia, we won’t get Putinized,” Borissov told media on Wednesday, despite his government, which fell in early 2021, being criticised for imposing the blockade on Skopje’s EU bid and keeping Bulgaria in a state of gas dependency on Russia.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
