site.btaParliament Legal Affairs Committee Leadership Rotates

Bulgaria's National Assembly on Thursday voted, 116-2 with 51 abstentions, to rotate the leadership of its Legal Affairs Committee. Anna Aleksandrova MP of GERB-UDF and Stoyu Stoev MP of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria changed places as deputy chairperson and chairperson of the Committee, respectively.

The rotation was carried by 57 votes from GERB-UDF, 38 from Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), and 21 from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The votes against came from CC-DB (one) and Vazrazhdane (one). Those abstaining were one MP from CC-DB, 30 from Vazrazhdane, and 20 from BSP for Bulgaria.

The draft resolution on a change in the Legal Affairs Committee leadership has been moved by GERB-UDF Floor Leader Desislava Atanasova.

At the beginning of the debate, Georgi Svilenski MP of BSP for Bulgaria said that the Bulgarian people and MPs deserve an explanation as to what is going on in the governing coalition. "If we replace the Legal Affairs Committee Chair, does that imply that we will replace the Parliament Chairperson as well," he added.

Atanas Atanasov MP of CC-DB said that when it was agreed that Rosen Zhelyazkov would be elected National Assembly Chairperson, there was an understanding among the majority that the chairpersons of the Parliament and of the Legal Affairs Committee would rotate simultaneously. Later, when the majority which backed the Denkov Government took shape, a new arrangement was made to rotate the Parliament Chairperson at the same time as the Prime Minister. "But since we have made a commitment to rotate the Legal Affairs Committee Chair, we will back this draft resolution because we honour our commitments," Atanasov said.