site.btaAd Hoc Committee Set Up to Draft New Parliament Rules

Parliament Thursday voted 181-14 with 32 abstentions to set up an Ad Hoc Committee on the adoption of the Rules of Procedure and Organization of the 52nd National Assembly.

The proposal was backed by Progressive Bulgaria, GERB-UDF and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). Within Democratic Bulgaria, 19 MPs abstained and two voted against. Continue the Change also abstained, while Vazrazhdane voted against.

The main dispute concerned whether the committee should be formed on a parity or proportional basis.

Vazrazhdane Deputy Floor Leader Peter Petrov proposed that the committee consist of 12 MPs, with two representatives from each parliamentary group, in line with the practice in the previous five parliaments. The proposal was rejected by a vote of 47-119 with 57 abstentions. Of the votes against, 118 came from Progressive Bulgaria.

The committee will consist of 16 MPs: nine from Progressive Bulgaria, three from GERB-UDF and one each from the MRF, Democratic Bulgaria, Continue the Change and Vazrazhdane. It is chaired by Dimitar Zdravkov of Progressive Bulgaria. Its members are Galin Durev, Dimitar Petrov, Stefan Belchev, Yanka Tyankova, Olga Borisova, Aleksandra Valcheva, Maria Todorova and Fatme Ramadan from Progressive Bulgaria; Raya Nazaryan, Aleksandar Ivanov and Rositsa Kirova from GERB-UDF; Hamid Hamid from the MRF; Atanas Slavov from Democratic Bulgaria; Stoyu Stoev from Continue the Change; and Peter Petrov from Vazrazhdane.