First sitting of Bulgaria’s newly-elected Parliament

The newly elected 45h National Assembly opened its first session at 9:00 am on April 15 in the old building of the Parliament. The meeting is broadcast live on the public service broadcasters, Bulgarian National Television and Bulgarian National Radio.

According to the Constitution, the new Parliament's first session is opened by the oldest attending Member of Parliament, who is Mika Zaykova of the “There Is Such a People Party”.

Since there is no electronic voting system in Parliament's old building, Zaikova had to check whether there was a quorum by reading the names of all 240 deputies. The MPs voted by raising a hand.

The MPs were sworn in during Parliament's first session. It was decided to allow quarantined MPs and those with COVID-19 to be sworn in online and participate in Parliament's future sittings remotely. Five MPs took the oath online, including Slavi Trifonov, the leader of “There is Such a People” party, which came second in the April 4 parliamentary elections.

In her address Zaikova said that the Bulgarian people have on April 4 “sent us to this hall with the single task of bringing change that will pull Bulgaria from the bottom of all the EU rankings. We have one objective - Bulgaria's prosperity and its worthy place in the European family," Zaykova said.

In his address, President Radev said that on Monday he will hold consultations with the parliamentary groups about the formation of a government.

There is only one winner in the elections and that is GERB, at least you should admit it, said Desislava Atanasova from the GERB-UDF coalition in her speech during the first sitting of the 45th National Assembly. We will propose a cabinet that can work at a fast pace from day one, she added.

There is no need to lie that this Parliament is likely to serve its full 4-year term, the deputy chairman of "There is such a people" party, Toshko Yordanov said in his first speech as an MP on behalf of the Parliamentary Group of the party. He added that the main task of "There is Such a People" is a mandatory change in the Electoral Code. There are several elementary things that people want and this Parliament is obliged to do them.

We do not negotiate with behind-the-scenes for power and money, we do not make any hidden agreements - neither with Borissov for a government, nor with the MRF for president, Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova said.

We will not support the GERB government, we will not form a grand coalition. We would support a government proposed by "There is Such a People". If they do not propose a government and if the third mandate is given to us - the party will decide what to do," Ninova added.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms will not vote for a party or coalition without a clear agenda, MRF Chairman Mustafa Karadayi said in his first speech. He laid out the movement's priorities for supporting a party.

We consider it legitimate if we are asked to enter into talks with "There is Such a People". Of course, this is not about package support, but about policy support, said the chairman of "Democratic Bulgaria" Hristo Ivanov. If "There is such a people" presents its proposal for a cabinet, we are ready to support other actions, Ivanov explained.

There should be no coalition with the “thugs”, said from the rostrum of the 45th National Assembly Maya Manolova, co-chair of the coalition "Rise up! Thugs out!".

There was applause in the hall from all but Borissov’s GERB group when Zaikova announced that Borissov had tabled the resignation of his government in the Correspondence Department.

The government will continue to perform its functions until the formation of a new government.

images by Dessislava Kulelieva

Чуйте последните новини, където и да сте!
Последвайте ни във Facebook и Instagram
Следете и канала на БНТ в YouTube
Вече може да ни гледате и в TikTok
Намерете ни в Google News