site.btaDRF-MRF Set to Make "Earnest Political Decision" about Whether to Stay with Parliamentary Majority

The collective leadership bodies of the Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (DRF) – MRF parliamentary group convened on Tuesday to discuss whether the group should stay with the ruling majority and keep supporting the cabinet of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov. The group are disillusioned with what they see as a failure of the majority to make the first steps towards dismantling "the Peevski model" (Delyan Peevski leads the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning). They complain that none of the regulatory agencies due to be elected by the National Assembly has been discussed within the majority format.

On his way into the meeting, the group's Deputy Floor Leader Dzheyhan Ibryamov told journalists: "We will make an earnest political decision, and it will be communicated to the media and our partners."

Ibryamov commented: "On more than one occasion, we have sounded the alarm that, generally, the parliamentary majority does not hold any meetings, it is not working in the format which was agreed as soon as it was put together. Last week, on Friday, we warned that this cannot go on anymore, all that covert support, or open support from political parties not belonging to the majority."

According to Ibryamov, Delyan Peevski's MRF-New Beginning has clearly supported the majority on the state budget and on the election of regulatory agencies. "We did not want their support, and from what I gather, the other three main parties [of the parliamentary majority] did not want it either," Ibryamov said.

Asked by BTA whether the "3 plus 1" formula of governance is viable, he said the formula does not matter, what matters is the priorities in the governance programme and the agreement among the parties.

Ibryamlov dismissed as "speculation" recent reports that MPs of DRF-MRF are considering leaving the group to join MRF-New Beginning. "We have never been so united and purpose-driven before," he stated.