Bulgarian government wins confidence vote in parliament

Bulgarian government wins confidence vote in parliament

2011-01-21 10:51:44 GMT+7 (ICT)

SOFIA, BULGARIA (BNO NEWS) -- Bulgarian government won two confidence votes on Thursday, gaining the support of 141 MPs in the 240-seat parliament, the local Novinite news agency reported.

Bulgaria's center-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov received 141 votes in favor during the first run of the vote. Thirteen people abstained from voting, while 72 did not support the confidence motion.

Then opposition MPs requested a re-vote due to difficulties in the counting of the first vote, which was conducted with the untraditional roll-call procedure.

The rerun was also staged using the roll-call method and gave 140 in favor, 60 against and 14 abstentions. The positive outcome came after nearly eight hours of debates.

The GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) ruling party has 117 of a total of 240 seats in Bulgaria's unicameral parliament.

Under the Bulgarian legislation, to survive in a vote of confidence the government needs a simple majority of the votes of the present MPs. If the Prime Minister fails to get support, he has to resign.

Borissov asked for the vote on Wednesday in an attempt to divert attention from a scandal over alleged officials protecting smuggling, shaking Bulgaria during the last two weeks.

The scandal began when a local newspaper published several recordings of telephone conversations that involved government officials, including Borissov, in protection of smuggling and illegal production of alcohol. It is not clear yet whether those conversations were authentic.

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