Bulgaria’s Parliament rejected calls for a new Constitution

Bulgaria's Parliament on November 25 rejected GERB’s proposal to convene a Grand National Assembly to adopt a new Constitution.

The proposal was surprisingly put on the agenda and, as expected, did not get the required 160 votes. In the summer, amid anti-government protests, the Prime Minister called for a "restart" and constitutional changes.

In September, a draft of a new Constitution was tabled by 127 MPs of GERB, United Patriots, Volya and independents. However, Volya party today did not support the convening of the Grand National Assembly and abstained

This decision to reject a draft on election of the Grand National Assembly was anticipated - something that became clear in the autumn, when the opposition socialist party, BSP and MRF said they would definitely not support such a decision and so, as expected, MPs today failed to get the 160 votes needed for the passage of a motion to hold elections of a Grand National Assembly.

The opposition BSP today deprived themselves of the opportunity for the government to resign, as the Prime Minister vowed in the summer, when he said that he would immediately resign if an election for the Grand National Assembly was called.

111 "in favour" votes came from the remote voting and supported the draft to convene a Grand National Assembly. 93 members of the opposition and those who left the BSP were against.

"Today, ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Borissov, it is very strange that it is you, the opposition, who oppose this chance," said Desislava Atanasova, chairwoman of the ad-hoc committee for a new Constitution.

The opposition BSP saw in today's extraordinary inclusion of this item on the agenda - a shortcut and an attempt to cover up the government's failure to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

"On the contrary, they expose the very nature of the ruling power - a power which is exhausted, power without ideas, frightened, but ready for anything to stay in power," Krum Zarkov from BSP said.

The MRF believes that GERB does not respect the current Constitution and that is why they demand a new one.

"When GERB speaks and proposes a new Constitution, at least they must prove with their actions that they respect the existing one as well," Mustafa Karadayi from MRF commented.

Volya party, which signed the draft of a new Constitution, today decided to abstain.

"For us, from Volya party, pragmatic actions are the most important, so we participated in giving a chance to politicians and all those who wanted changes in the Constitution," Plamen Hristov explained.

According to those who left the BSP group, the current Constitution is sufficiently stable and the creation of a new one cannot be an end in itself, especially of this National Assembly.

Toma Bikov from GERB announced that the Constitution is not a Bible and it can be changed. He added that they had not declared war on the current basic law.

"We made this proposal in a situation of strong public tension with the desire to create a place where political parties, civil society and Bulgarian society can hold a debate on the future of Bulgaria," Bikov said.

A wide public debate on a new Constitution never took place. This was one of the criticisms of the Venice Commission from days ago. The ad-hoc committee on the discussion of the draft basic law was attacked by the President before the Constitutional Court and held only one session.

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