MECh vs Speaker of Parliament: Charlatans, hooligans, recordings, and a Robin Hood

Following a Constitutional Court's decision, there has been a reshuffle in Parliament and recalculation of seat allocations by the Central Electoral Commission. The MECh (Morality, Unity, Honour) parliamanetary group was reduced from 12 to 11 people. Three of the existing MPs left and two new ones had to take the oath of office. Samuil Slavov was sworn in, but resigned after media reports revealed he had been tried in the US, and his resignation was accepted.

Thus, the elected Ivan Ivanov and Plamen Petkov, who have yet to take the oath, are set to join the Parliament. At one point, the MЕЧ group consisted of 9 MPs and two elected members who still hadn’t sworn in.

This gave Parliament Speaker Natalya Kiselova the reason to dissolve the MECh group because it needs 10 MPs to exist.

The leader of MECh party, Radostin Vassilev, quickly responded, accusing the Speaker of political repression. Meanwhile, the opposition party "Vazrazhdane" is gathering signatures for the first vote of no confidence against the "Zhelyazkov" government.

Following the previous week’s political changes, this new week began with more accusations from MЕCh leader Radostin Vassilev against Parliament Speaker Natalya Kiselova.

Radostin Vassilev - chairman of MECh: "Kiselova committed a crime. This is a fact. The regulations do not allow allow for the disbandment of the MECh group. There is no factual justification. There are two decisions of the Constitutional Court - from 2003, from 2010, which explain what a vacancy is. We have a very serious case law. She is not a constitutionalist. She is a charlatan who was placed to preside the Bulgarian Parliament incompetently. This is the truth. I will stand and I will not let her sit in the chair of the Speaker."

Is it legal to record people over the phone? Do they know about this?
"Of course, there is a European Court of Human Rights decision on this issue, where recording is used to prevent a crime."

So, there is no problem for you to record the person with one of the most resposible jobs in the state or anyone who calls you?
"No problem at all."

Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Borislav Gutsanov was asked by journalists in Razgrad if the disbandment of the MЕCh group would affect governance. He indicated that the government is complex and that each party must take its own political responsibility. He added that it is still better to have a regular cabinet than more elections. He expressed hope that governance would continue with mutual compromises and concessions.

Meanwhile, 'Vazrazhdane' started gathering signatures for a vote of no confidence against the government due to a systemic failure in foreign policy, citing the death of a Bulgarian citizen in Gaza and the government’s policy toward the conflict in Ukraine.

Kostadin Kostadinov - Chairman of 'Vazrazhdane':

"The resignation we are calling for from the government is due to a complete failure, to put it mildly, in foreign policy. More importantly, this is a policy that threatens the national security of the republic. With this policy, the government of GERB, BSP, There is Such a People, and Peevski has turned its government into a primary threat to national security, and all parties that are different from the ruling majority and claim to be opposition are welcome to sign."

The motion can be tabled by 48 of the MPs.

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"Everything Kiselova did is political repression, pressure, mafia-like methods against a parliamentary group, which Zafirov calls loud, but in fact, it offers the only opposition solutions in the interest of the people." This was stated by Radostin Vassilev, leader of the MECh party, in the studio of "Deniyat zapochva" (The Day Begins) on BNT on March 24, regarding the scandal about the dissolution of the party's parliamentary group.

Radostin Vassilev announced civil disobedience and stated that he would report the Speaker of the National Assembly to the Prosecutor's Office. It is worth recalling that both BSP and GERB defended Natalya Kiselova’s actions. However, 'There is Such a People' stated that the Speaker of the Parliament should reconsider her decision.

Radostin Vassilev announced that he has a recording in which Kiselova admits that pressure was exerted on her.

Vassilev explained that he has not spoken to anyone since the scandal.

“I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to anyone after that, but I saw that we are receiving support from 'Vazrazhdane,' 'There is Such a People,' 'Continuing the Change' - 'Democratic Bulgaria.' Look, if what Kiselova did was lawful and if the MEC group had truly dissolved, I would not contest it. But because it is unlawful, because it does not comply with the rules, not just the spirit of the law, but the law itself, and because it was done with the sole purpose of destroying me as a political representative in full form in the parliament, our response will be proportional. In short, I want to tell you - according to the current rules, a group is either left or excluded by a member, thus reducing its number. There are only two options. The member leaves or is excluded. In the case of death, when incompatibility is determined, or after a decision by the Constitutional Court, those seats of MPs remain vacant, not abandoned, until the new MPs take an oath and join this parliamentary group. There is no scenario, while we are waiting for two colleagues to swear in, for her to announce that our group has fallen below the minimum members.”

BNT: How long can you wait for them?

"There is no such deadline, but we are waiting... one of them, the decision from the Central Election Commission was on Thursday, and his first opportunity to take the oath was on Friday. So we waited one day after the decision. The other we waited for four working days. So, we didn’t really wait that long. Everything Kiselova did is political repression, pressure, mafia-like methods against a parliamentary group, which Zafirov calls 'loud', but in fact, it offers the only opposition solutions in the interest of the people. GERB is very irritated, 'New Beginning' is irritated, and everyone in parliament, BSP, probably 'There is Such a People,' is angry that we do not keep quiet. We do not keep quiet and tell them the truth to their faces, and that is one of the ways they get revenge."

Radostin Vassilev called the Speaker of Parliament, Associate Professor Natalia Kiselova, a "charlatan."

“The rules do not allow the MECh group to be dissolved. There is no factual basis. There are two decisions of the Constitutional Court from 2003 and 2010, which explain what a vacancy is. We have very serious practice. She is not a constitutional expert. She is a charlatan, who was appointed to manage the Bulgarian parliament incompetently. That is the truth. I will stand and will not let her sit in the speaker's chair. And they’ll have to shed blood to remove me from there. Not to defend me, but to defend the truth.”

Asked which role he sees himself in more - as the hooligan of Bulgarian politics or as a victim of the status quo, Radostin Vassilev replied:

"I have no problem being the hooligan in the fight against the mafia. Robin Hood if you want to call me that, no problem. We are just starting to take from the rich and give to the poor. We have not been able to achieve this so far because the mafia-style governance continues to dominate in Bulgaria."