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Bulgaria: Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's government overthrows in a no

2022-06-22T18:42:03.755Z


Kiril Petkov was Bulgaria's prime minister for just six months. A motion of no confidence in parliament in Sofia brought his government down.


Prime Minister Kiril Petkov

Photo:

Valentina Petrova / picture alliance / dpa / AP

In Bulgaria, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's government, which has only been in office for six months, was overthrown by a vote of no confidence in parliament.

On Wednesday evening in Sofia, 123 MPs voted in favor of the motion of no confidence brought by the largest opposition party, Gerb, and 116 against it, as Vice-President Miroslaw Ivanov announced.

The votes of at least 121 of the 240 deputies were required.

It was the first successful no-confidence vote in Bulgaria's democratic history.

The previous governing coalition that was only formed at the end of last year (read an interview with Petkov here) broke up in early June when the populist ITN party led by singer Slawi Trifonov announced its withdrawal from the four-party alliance led by Petkov.

Trifonov had announced his party's withdrawal from the governing coalition in a speech published on the Internet.

"As of today, I am retiring the ministers of the ITN and putting an end to this coalition and this torment," he said.

According to its own statements, the conservative Gerb party of ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov reacted to "the failure of the government in the areas of public finances and economic policy" with its voting request.

Bulgaria is the poorest member state of the EU.

After the no-confidence vote, President Rumen Radev can now try three times to commission other parties with the search for a government majority.

If this fails, Parliament will be dissolved.

New elections must then take place within two months.

It would be the fourth ballot since last year in the country with its 6.5 million inhabitants.

Prime Minister Petkow recently pursued a policy of rapprochement with North Macedonia and met with its head of government.

In North Macedonia, the meeting was linked to hopes that Sofia could give up its opposition to Skopje's attempts to join the EU.

The possible admission of the neighboring country to the EU is highly controversial in Bulgaria.

as /AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-06-22

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