site.btaSocialist MPs Who Voted against Veto Not to Be Part of BSP Group in Next Parliament, Party Leader Says

Parliament Wednesday rejected President Iliana Iotova's veto on amendments to the Election Code due to 8 MPs of BSP - United Left, BSP leader Krum Zarkov told journalists after the National Assembly's sitting. Zarkov specified that these MPs were three of the ministers in the Zhelyazkov cabinet, Dragomir Stoynev, Kiril Dobrev, Maya Dimitrova, Deyan Dechev, and Petar Kanev.

The controversial revisions slash the number of polling stations in Bulgarian elections in non-EU countries. The vote against the veto was 126-86, with 11 abstentions. Those who wanted the veto to pass were 7 MPs of BSP - United Left, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, Velichie, 24 MPs of MRF - New Beginning, and three independent MPs. Those rejecting the veto were 8 MPs of BSP - United Left, GERB-UDF, Vazrazhdane, 3 MPs of MRF - New Beginning, There Is Such a People, and 2 independent MPs. The 11 abstentions came from MECh and one independent MP.

Zarkov commented that by voting against the veto, the 8 members of his parliamentary group purposefully went against the political decision of the BSP Executive Bureau and contributed to a violation of the Constitution, in which they swore and which guarantees equal voting right of Bulgarian citizens. This behaviour of theirs is absolutely unacceptable, and they will no longer be MPs of BSP in the next parliament, Zarkov underscored.

He thanked the other members of the BSP - United Left group who upheld the principles set at the base of the Socialist party. "With them we will have to overcome the damage already inflicted on us and yet to be inflicted until the last day of this National Assembly. We continue onward on a different path," Zarkov added.