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The ruling majority gathered more than 120 testamentary signatures to present a new constitution, ensuring their permanence in power amid 56 days of protests demanding the resignation of the cabinet and the attorney general. Since the BSP and the MRF are firmly against a new constitution and the convening of a Grand National Assembly, the prospect of the ruling party getting the required 160 votes is nil, further delegitimizing the government.
Thus, the political crisis has intensified as protests, civil disobedience and blockades continue.
The GERB request was that if on September 2 it does not obtain the necessary 120 signatures by his hastily drafted constitution, the prime minister will resign. The NFSB coalition partners were unconditional supporters, but the problem was the third in the IMRO government, which called for their own proposals to be included in the project. After two days of negotiations, GERB and VMRO organized a new compromise version of the constitution on Wednesday afternoon, guaranteeing the 116 signatures of all GERB and United Patriots MPs.
The total number of signatures collected is 127, since the project has the support of 11 other deputies, mainly from Volia, in addition to two independents: Spas Panchev, who left the BSP group, and Angle Isaev, who was expelled from the MRF group.
Transactional version of the constitution plus referendum
The new version of the constitution returns the preamble, the description of the coat of arms and eliminates the possibility of a legislative initiative of the “Judicial Council of Prosecutors”.
Under three of the IMRO conditions, on which no agreement was reached: educational qualification to vote, return to mandatory barracks and expanding the powers of the president With a legislative initiative and a vote of no confidence, a referendum will be held parallel to the elections to the Great National Assembly.
“We wrote a preamble as our IMRO colleagues wanted. We eliminated the possibility of a legislative initiative of the judiciary, because this element in our proposals caused serious controversies, we explicitly wrote the text of the Law of the Coat of Arms in the Constitution to describe the Bulgarian coat of arms in a very precise and detailed way. and a number of other changes you will see “said the president of the parliamentary group GERB Daniela daritkova after the end of negotiations with IMRO.
Co-Chairman of the Patriots Group Sincere Veselinov list which of your terms have been compromised:
“You know we wanted the introduction of an educational qualification. Another important point that we offered to our colleagues was to include the expansion of presidential powers. And the third issue on which we had differences was the one related to recruitment. These three issues are not there. included, as an entry in the constitution, but in fact these three issues will be put to a referendum at the same time as the elections for the Grand National Assembly. “
IMRO’s request for mandatory voting is present, but in a softer form.
Vesselinov expressed satisfaction that his proposal to include a preamble in the basic law, in which it is written, was accepted. “the irrevocable duty to preserve the national and state unity of Bulgaria”; vote to be defined as a civil duty; list the rights of Bulgarian communities abroad; to describe in detail the coat of arms of the republic. “
The project has been submitted, but what’s next?
Although 127 signatures have been collected, the continuation of the procedure seems useless: 2-5 months after the presentation of the bill, the parliament must consider whether it has a Grand National Assembly and, to convene it, it is necessary. 160 votesand.
“I believe that the next debate will be fruitful, in the interests of the Bulgarian citizens.”Daritkova said.
However, the BSP and MRF have already announced that they do not support the initiative, and all other MPs are 137. However, Borissov may decide to continue procrastinating on the grounds that he can persuade individual MPs from both parties.
For example, at the end of 2019, 27 socialists supported the election of former chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov as head of KPKONPI, even though the party had decided to vote against it.
“We have more than 1.2 million voters who supported us in the last elections. Our voters, along with those of IMRO and NFSB, guarantee 1.5 million votes in support of this government. We have the confidence of our voters.”Said Daritkova in response to a question about whether this majority has the necessary trust among the people to make changes to the constitution.
However, polls conducted by various electoral agencies show that to date, the majority of Bulgarians support the protests, and the confidence of the current parliament is between 10% and 15%.
On the deputies’ first business day after the summer vacation, it was clear that the configuration in the National Assembly has changed, as the MRF has announced the creation of an expert anti-crisis cabinet as an alternative to early elections.
The same position was expressed by Will Party, whose political positions are often a function of external pressure. So far, the 12 deputies of the head of pharmacy and oil Veselin Mareshki provided votes for the ruling party at critical moments, as did the MRF (25 deputies). On Wednesday, however, Volia said it was better for the state for parliament to nominate a popular government of professionals and experts, the same as the MRF wants.
Mareshki also said that Volia would not sign the new constitution, but hours later he and eight other lawmakers signed it personally.
Obviously, this will be the model on which parliament will work until the end of its term.
At the same time, sources close to the ruling coalition told Mediapool that the government was considering the option of resigning and forming an expert cabinet, but for now this option has been in the background.
In any case, the most important thing for Boyko Borissov is not to resign, which is what the anti-corruption protests are calling for, to avoid early parliamentary elections organized by the interim government of President Rumen Radev. This is the scenario that the government wants to avoid through the proposed new constitution and the Supreme National Assembly.
The other option is for Borissov to convince the GERB to participate in the expert government requested by the MRF. The political cost would be high, but if Borisov decides to pay it, it would be a sign that he wants to negotiate guarantees for himself against political lynching and prosecution.
However, in such a denouement of the political crisis, the protests will not stop.
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