Bulgarian parliament votes to dismiss cabinet

The Bulgarian parliament voted in acceptance of the center-right GERB party cabinet’s resignation, news agency novinite.com reported February 21.

“A total of 209 lawmakers voted in favor of the proposed resignation, while 5 were against and 1 abstained from voting,” novinite.com wrote.

The vote was the result of an announcement made by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov Wednesday, that his whole cabinet would be resigning at noon. The shock announcement followed a series of protests, which have spread throughout Bulgaria, following what many viewed as exceedingly high electricity bills in December 2012.

Nationwide protests lulled on Wednesday, according to the media, as news spread that the cabinet would be resigning. Borisov was apparently too busy to attend Thursday’s parliamentary session, although he turned up a short while after the vote to accuse Ahmed Demir Dogan, former leader of the Turkish minority party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), of planning an assassination against him.

“The intelligence agency of a partner country has provided documents, which clearly show that there were preparations for an assassination attempt on my life,” Borisov said, according to novinite.com.

Dogan resigned from the DPS in January 2013 after a failed attempt on his life during a party congress.

Speculation is rife about who will take over as interim Prime Minister. The Bulgarian media has even suggested that disgraced Finance Minister Simeon Djankov – the first to be dismissed in this political crisis – may be nominated for the post by President Rosen Plevneliev.

If parliament is not able to decide on a new cabinet, then a general election will most likely be held in the Spring. Borisov had said from the beginning of this crisis that the GERB party will not be a caretaker government, according to the Sofia news agency.

Photo by Jacek Turczyk. Courtesy of Polish news agency PAP