GERB and DPS with a yellow card to their partners: the vote against the cabinet has been postponed (renewed) – Politics

© Yulia Lazarova

Demonstrations and games with the quorum did not allow the National Assembly to take a final decision on the vote of no confidence in the government submitted by “Vazrazhdane”, BSP, “Ima talikny narod” and Radostin Vassilev, who does not belong to a parliamentary group. They tried to topple the government on the grounds that it had failed in its defense and national security policies.

Minutes before the vote itself, the parliamentary groups of GERB and DPS demonstratively left the hall.

The demonstration by GERB and DPS came minutes after parliament rejected their proposal to revoke the exemption for Russian oil imports within three days. Earlier in the day, representatives of the two political forces left the meeting of the Security Council in the Council of Ministers ahead of schedule, convened by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, after the rulers did not agree on exactly when the derogation should expire. Minutes before the vote, the DPS demanded the resignation of two ministers and accused “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria” of having formed a new pro-Putin coalition with the BSP and “Vazrazhdane”.

Thus, only the group of “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria” voted against the vote of no confidence, and the vote of no confidence gathered more votes “for” (66) than those “against” (61), but because of the condition that it passes only if it is supported by 121 deputies, the decision was rejected.

© Yulia Lazarova

As a result, the BSP were outraged by the actions of the DPS and GERB and demanded a re-voting and a recess. A wave of procedural gripes and games with the quorum ensued, which ultimately led to the meeting being adjourned, and the fate of the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet will be decided on tomorrow’s plenary day, when a re-vote will be held. However, the expectation is that the vote will not pass, since despite the yellow card to “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria”, GERB and DPS have not changed their positions towards the government so far.

This is the second vote of no confidence in the “Denkov-Gabriel” cabinet. The first was re-introduced by “Vazrazhdane”, BSP, “There is such a people” and the non-parliamentary group Radostin Vasilev for the government’s failure in the energy sector and was also unsuccessful.

Parliamentary grips

After the first vote of no confidence, Georgi Svilenski from BSP asked for a break so that GERB and DPS could return to the hall. “If they want to separate themselves from the cabinet, it can be done by voting, not by leaving the hall! If they really do not support the cabinet, let them order in the hall, otherwise the hypocrisy is clear in front of all the cameras and Bulgarian citizens,” said Svilenski. After the break, he again called on GERB and DPS to return to the hall and suggested that if they did not do so, the meeting would be closed and the voting would continue tomorrow. After him, his colleague Ivan Chenchev asked for a quorum check.

The Speaker of the Parliament, Rosen Zhelyazkov, answered him that on the edge of the rules, he made a gesture to the BSP and gave a break in the requested re-voting mode. “If you read the rules, a new vote is allowed immediately after the vote in case of a disputed vote. You did not dispute the result, but requested a re-vote and a tactical break. I gave you a break, we are currently in a procedure. I will check the quorum in connection with the upcoming vote.” said Zhelyazkov, and after the check showed that there were only 64 people in the hall, he added:

“As I see it, the movers of the motion of no confidence are not in the room and do not want to participate. By their absence, they are not asking for no confidence. In 10 minutes I will do another quorum check. As they say, conclusory actions speak for themselves he stated.

After the break, during the quorum check, only 63 deputies registered (60 from “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria”, 2 from GERB (Rosen Zhelyazkov and Rositsa Kirova) and the independent Radostin Vassilev. Therefore, the Speaker of the Parliament announced that he was closing the session due to lack of of a quorum.

© Yulia Lazarova

The signs of GERB and DPS

With their demonstration today, GERB and DPS stood behind their initially stated positions that they would not support the vote of no confidence, but at the same time, by leaving the hall, they showed their disapproval of the decisions of “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria”.

After the end of the meeting, the chairman of the DPS parliamentary group, Delyan Peevski, called on “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria” to read the signs and not destroy the Euro-Atlantic parliamentary majority, which will threaten the Euro-Atlantic government with the coalitions they made in places with “Vazrazhdane” and BSP.

“This cannot happen. Either there will be a Euro-Atlantic majority or a pro-Putin majority that governs Bulgaria. We will not participate in it. This is the evening of signs,” Peevski stressed.

BSP leader Kornelia Ninova commented on what happened, saying that with their actions GERB and DPS demonstrate that they are wringing the hands of “Continuing the change – Democratic Bulgaria” in the case with “Lukoil”. She explained the behavior of the left, which did not register during the quorum check, with the fact that, in the re-voting tomorrow, it gives GERB and DPS a chance to enter the hall and clearly state their position. “To have the courage to say yes or no,” she explained.