site.btaUPDATED Parliament Accepts Desislava Atanasova's MP Resignation

After a nearly one-hour debate, the National Assembly on Wednesday terminated the powers of Desislava Atanasova as MP from GERB-UDF, following her resignation. The decision passed with 135 votes in favour, 31 against, and no abstentions.  

Last week Parliament elected Atanasova and Borislav Belazelkov as members of the Constitutional Court from the parliamentary quota. The two are expected to be sworn in on January 26.

The Comments

Toma Bikov (GERB): The only accusation against Mrs. Atanasova is that she was an MP from GERB. We will not allow people from GERB to be lustrated just because they are from GERB. The accusation that someone is a member of GERB is not significant for us. Both Mrs. Atanasova and Mr. Belazelkov are representatives of the parliamentary quota in the Constitutional Court. This is a political choice because the National Assembly is a political institution. Let us be honest and stop bypassing Parliament. This tendency in which Parliament is being neglected and partisanship is being rejected, leads to other allusions, he added.

Kostadin Kostadinov (Vazrazhdane leader): We practically no longer have a Constitutional Court. There is nothing to lie about - the last institution was conquered. Atanasova is the personification of a model of governance in recent decades.

Stanislav Balabanov from (There Is Such a People): Mrs. Atanasova is indeed a proven professional. She was part of GERB, she voted for the changes in the Constitution. Now she will have to judge as a constitutional judge whether these changes are right or wrong.   

Georgi Svilenski (BSP for Bulgaria): The BSP has been categorically opposed from the very beginning and will vote against Atanasova's dismissal as an MP.

Yavor Bojankov (Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria): There has been an attempt to suggest that one person makes decisions in the Constitutional Court. This is not the case because the decisions of the Constitutional Court are collective.