site.btaAltercation between CC-DB MPs, Deputy Parliament Chair Leads to Early Adjournment of Parliament

A second altercation between a member of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and Deputy Parliament Chair Tsoncho Ganev led to a quorum check and an early adjournment of the National Assembly sitting on Thursday, half an hour before its regular end.

CC-DB MP Alexander Simidchiev accused Ganev, who is also an MP from Vazrazhdane, of violating the rules by ignoring MPs' requests for procedure on how to conduct the proceedings, as well as of failing to respond to Yavor Bozhankov's procedure, who had earlier asked Ganev to vacate the chair. Bozhankov, who is a CC-DB MP, called on Ganev to consider the way Ganev acted towards Bozhankov about a month ago. Bozhankov labelled that behaviour inappropriate and a mistake that should not be a source of pride. As a result, Ganev called a 30-minute break.

After the break, Simidchiev addressed Ganev: "When the incident with Yavor Bozhankov happened, I was a metre away from him. He had nothing to do with you. You came and pushed him. That is unworthy of a person who represents this institution. You continued to break the rules, you did not respond to procedure, and you did not allow yourself to be replaced a short while ago. You cannot conduct a sitting in this way."

Ganev asked Simidchiev to vacate the rostrum, which Simidchiev refused to do.

Since this was the second occurrence of this kind on Thursday, Ganev declared a quorum check, which established that there were 115 MPs registered. The Deputy Parliament Chair then declared no quorum, and the sitting was terminated early.