site.btaUPDATED CC-DB to Work towards Election of National Assembly Chair, Government Ready to Implement Coalition's Priorities, MP Denkov Says

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) will work towards the election of a National Assembly chair and a government that show with their actions readiness to implement the priorities and goals of the coalition, CC-DB MP Nikolay Denkov said in a statement during the inaugural sitting of the 51st Parliament on Monday. 

He outlined CC-DB's main priorities, among which is the creation of a "cordon sanitaire" (sanitary cordon) around MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski and his parliamentary group, limiting its participation in the formation of majorities in the election of governing bodies of the National Assembly and of bodies whose members are elected by the National Assembly.

"The reason for this approach are the deeply justified suspicions of systematic violations of the rule of law through the exercise of illegitimate influence on the control mechanisms of the State," Denkov said. 

At the beginning of his speech, Denkov pointed out that for the first time in 35 years democracy in Bulgaria is in immediate danger. We must fight to save it, he said. This statement is illustrated not only by the numerous protests on the first day of the new National Assembly, not only by the problems posed for years about the captured institutions and their use for selfish purposes, but by a new development in recent months that attacks the very foundations of democratic Bulgaria - that is, fair elections and preserving the basic rights of the people, Denkov said.

He said that "an unprecedented scale of a bought vote with reports of serious violations" were witnessed across the country during the October 27 snap elections and added the video recordings, which show a planned and systematic violation of electoral rules, are particularly worrying.

Other CC-DB priorities he listed:

- An agenda for the work of the Parliament with measures to stop the collapse of institutions in Bulgaria. Among the measures in the National Assembly's programme Denkov mentioned termination of the procedure for the election of a new prosecutor general by a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with an expired mandate and the introduction of a ban on such a council making key, long-term, personnel decisions for constitutionally established bodies.

- Adoption of anti-corruption reforms set out in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

- Election of members of the SJC by the National Assembly quota, based on public and transparent procedures.

- Efforts towards fight against corruption and money laundering, which ensure that persons sanctioned for corruption by partner countries of Bulgaria cannot receive and dispose of public funds and public state or municipal property. 

- Establishment of a temporary parliamentary commission to examine the facts and circumstances related to the conduct of the October 27 snap parliamentary elections and development of proposals for legal and institutional safeguards to ensure fair and free elections, as well as seeking political agreement on changes to the Electoral Code that reduce the possibility of electoral fraud.

- Defending national priorities at the European level - Bulgaria's full accession to Schengen and the euro area for the benefit of Bulgarian citizens and Bulgarian business.