site.btaParliamentary Sitting Fails Due to Lack of Quorum

July 12 (BTA) - Friday's parliamentary sitting failed due
 to lack of quorum. On the agenda were first-reading amendments
to the Election Code aimed to abolish machine voting in local
and parliamentary elections, as well as Question Time in
Parliament.

After two unsuccessful attempts to gather enough registrations
for the sitting, National Assembly Chair Tsveta Karayancheva
commented that the MPs of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)
and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) were in the
plenary chamber but did not register. The third attempt yielded
120 registrations, out of the 121 necessary for a quorum.
  
Due to the lack of quorum, Karayancheva set an extraordinary
parliamentary sitting for July 23 to hold a debate on the draft
amendments to the Election Code.

"It is insulting that this disgrace happens today, when we mark
28 years since the adoption of the Constitution by the 7th Grand
 National Assembly," Karayancheva told journalists.

Approached for comment, BSP leader Kornelia Ninova said that her
 party upholds its position against the abolition of machine
voting by using all possible forms of behaviour in Parliament.
Taking a question, she denied having an agreement with the MRF
not to register for Friday's parliamentary sitting.

Asked if a compromise on machine voting is possible, Ninova said
 the incumbent rule without accepting arguments of the
opposition and civil society. In her words, the powerholders
have decided to torpedo fair elections in any way possible.
 
GERB Floor Leader Daniela Daritkova commented that the
consolidated opposition in the face of the BSP and the MRF
ruined Friday's parliamentary sitting. She said firmly that next
 week there will be quorum and the draft revisions to the
Election Code will be debated.

Valeri Simeonov, leader of the NFSB party within the United
Patriots parliamentary group, expressed confidence that the
abolition of machine voting will pass in Parliament. According
to him, both the BSP and the MRF have behind-the-scene
agreements.

RY/DS

/ДЛ/