site.btaParliament Accepts Borissov Cabinet Resignation

Sofia, April 16 (BTA) - Bulgaria's newly elected Parliament on
Friday voted, 156-0 with no abstentions, to accept the
resignation of the Boyko Borissov Cabinet. The GERB MPs stood
out of the vote although they were present in the debating
chamber.

The item was placed on the agenda for Friday's plenary sitting
without notice and triggered a controversy.

GERB asked on what legal grounds the MPs had to vote on the
Government's resignation. Dani Kanazireva MP of GERB insisted
that the resignation should be tendered and not put to the vote.

National Assembly Chair Iva Miteva explained that a performative
 act of Parliament accepting the resignation was needed in order
 to objectify it, which is why a vote on it must be taken. After
 its resignation is accepted, the outgoing Cabinet will continue
 to perform its functions until a new one is elected, she said.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov tendered his Cabinet's resignation
 on Thursday in a letter to the National Assembly Registry. 
Announcing the resignation, Mika Zaykova MP of There Is Such a
People, who presided over the inaugural plenary sitting of the
new legislature as the oldest lawmaker, criticized the manner in
 which the Cabinet resigned without appearing in person in
Parliament. Zaykova said that Borissov and his ministers were
either "ashamed of the people and you MPs or disparaging."
"After all, we are a parliamentary republic," she noted. NV/DT