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1st LD Writethru: Bulgarian parliament approves cabinet resignation

Xinhua, November 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday approved the resignation of the GERB party-led coalition government and pushed the Balkan country towards political uncertainty.

As many as 218 members of the 240-seat Parliament supported the resignation, which Prime Minister Boyko Borissov submitted on Monday after the opposition-backed candidate Rumen Radev won the presidential election on Sunday.

If the parties in the parliament fail to form a new cabinet after three attempts, outgoing President Rosen Plevneliev, whose term expires at the end of January 2017, shall appoint a caretaker government.

Meanwhile, according to the Bulgarian Constitution, the president shall not dissolve the National Assembly during the last three months of his term of office. In addition, on Monday Plevneliev asked the Constitutional Court whether he shall schedule early parliamentary elections during this period or not.

During the debate in the parliament, Borissov, who heads the GERB party, said the presidential election clearly showed that the people wanted change.

However, Nayden Zelenogorski, co-chairperson of the parliamentary group of the Reformist Bloc, warned that "the country will embark on a dangerous and uncertain path," and at the moment, Bulgarian politicians need equanimity and pragmatism.

Mustafa Karadayi, chairman of the parliamentary group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, echoed that the nationally responsible parties should prevent a parliamentary and political crisis in the country.

Kolyo Kolev, director of Mediana Polling Agency, said in an interview with Xinhua on Monday that it was too early to predict what would happen after the early parliamentary elections.

Borissov's coalition government of the GERB party, the Reformist Bloc, the Patriotic Front and ABV came to power in November 2014.

Borissov also acted as prime minister from 2009 to February 2013, when he resigned amid national protests against high bills for electricity and heating, and triggered early parliamentary elections. Endit