site.btaParliament Rubberstamps Unsuccessful Completion of TISP's Cabinet-Forming Mandate

August 12 (BTA) - Bulgaria's National Assembly on
Thursday voted, 106-60 with one abstention, to pass a resolution
 accepting the withdrawal for personal reasons of Plamen
Nikolov's candidacy for prime minister and declaring the
unsuccessful completion of the cabinet-forming mandate of There
Is Such a People (TISP).

The votes in favour came from BSP for Bulgaria, Democratic
Bulgaria, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and Rise Up
 BG! Here We Come! GERB-UDF voted against, and TISP stood out of
 the vote.

Earlier, the TISP MPs, including National Assembly Iva Miteva,
walked out of the debating chamber in disagreement with the
legislature's resolution to hold a debate and take a vote on
Nikolov's decision.

"We are leaving a debate that will serve for election campaign
speeches. To us, there is no debate, the case is closed," TISP
Deputy Floor Leader Ivaylo Vulchev said.

Earlier, reading a declaration on behalf of his parliamentary
group, Vulchev insisted that everyone stop blaming TISP because
they are not a problem but a solution to the problem, which
would become clear in the next elections.

"Why are you scrutinizing TISP when you now control three
quarters of Parliament, you are all together, your past proves
it," said Vulchev. "I doubt you have forgotten that the BSP
[Bulgarian Socialist Party] governed together with the MRF, Maya
 Manolova was from BSP and together with the MRF, Tatyana
Doncheva was from BSP, Hristo Ivanov was Boyko Borissov's
minister and called him 'boss', the MRF's support for GERB was a
 public secret, they voted through so many laws together that
they were practically a coalition. These are all facts," the
TISP Deputy Floor Leader said. "Now you have a historic chance
to be together again, just as you have always been," he added.

Another TISP Deputy Floor Leader, Filip Stanev, commented that
his party wanted to have a cabinet and to shoulder that
responsibility but refused to oblige the partners they
negotiated with and let them decide which people would take
particular offices and project the interests of various
oligarchic circles in the TISP cabinet.

Addressing Parliament before the draft resolution was put to the
 vote, Toma Bikov MP of GERB described the absence of the
parliamentary group mandated to form a cabinet and of the
candidate for prime minister as an "absurd situation". Bikov
pointed out that the present Parliament, just as the previous
one, is failing in its most important task: to elect a
government of the country at a time of a health crisis, economic
 and social challenges, and migrant pressure.

In Parliament's lobby, GERB-UDF Floor Leader Desislava
Atanassova told journalists that her TISP colleagues acted
"unseriously" when they walked out of the plenary sitting while
a vote was being taken, moreover after having succeeded in
fulfilling their cabinet-forming mandate.

Democratic Bulgaria Floor Leader Hristo Ivanov argued that TISP
are destabilizing the constitutional order in the country, and
precisely GERB are taking advantage of this.

Thursday's vote resolved an unprecedented situation in
Bulgaria's recent history and one for which the Constitution
makes no provisions. On August 10, TISP leader Slavi Trifonov
announced his party's decision not to present its draft cabinet
to Parliament even though their prime minister designate Plamen
Nikolov had fulfilled a cabinet-forming mandate received from
President Rumen Radev on July 30 and the head of State had
issued a decree, asking the National Assembly to take a vote on
the proposal. Trifonov blamed Democratic Bulgaria and Rise Up!
for the about-turn after they declared that they would vote
against TISP's proposed cabinet in Parliament. Later that day,
citing personal reasons, Nikolov informed the President and
Parliament that he was withdrawing his consent to be nominated
for prime minister and to participate in the election procedure.
 

What's Next

The second largest parliamentary group, GERB-UDF, should now be
asked to try and form a cabinet. GERB leader Boyko Borissov has
said that they will designate MP Daniel Mitov for prime minister
 and will put a cabinet together but will nevertheless decline
the mandate. Within a week after that, the head of State will
have to hand a third mandate to a smaller parliamentary group of
 his choice.

Asked by journalists on Wednesday whether they were ready to
negotiate, as there are already ideas and proposals, TISP's
Vulchev said it was too early to talk about negotiations on a
third cabinet-forming mandate. For his part, fellow MP Filip
Stanev said that their parliamentary group will not back a
cabinet formed on a third mandate.

Democratic Bulgaria's Hristo Ivanov said that the fate of the
third mandate is entirely in the hands of TISP. "If TISP are
ready to discuss a comprehensive formula of rendering up a
government to be in office for six to eight months and steer the
 country during the winter, through the COVID crisis and the
mounting refugee pressure and ensure a national budget, we can
agree on a cabinet under the third mandate, clearing taking on
responsibilities," he commented, approached by reporters. He was
 referring to the possibility of a party other than GERB and the
 MRF receiving the third cabinet-forming mandate. In his words,
this time politicians must sit at the negotiation table and make
 reasonable concessions so as to find a solution to all issues.

TISP has 65 MPs in the 240-member legislature, GERB-UDF 63, BSP
for Bulgaria 36, Democratic Bulgaria 34, the MRF 29, and Rise
Up! 13. To be elected, a proposed cabinet must be supported by
more than half of the MPs present.

In the event of a third failure, Radev will have to schedule
early parliamentary elections within two months, i.e. for
October 17 at the earliest. RI/MT, LG


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