Bulgarian opposition files non-confidence vote against govt.
April 6, 2008 - 0:0
SOFIA (Xinhua) -- The Bulgarian opposition has filed to the Parliament's secretarial office a non-confidence vote against the government over ""an unprecedented involvement of the government with organized crime,"" local press reported Friday.
The motion is signed by 60 MPs of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), the United Democratic Forces, the Bulgarian Popular Union and the Bulgarian New Democracy. On Thursday the opposition publicized the reasoning for its motion of no confidence in Sergei Stanishev's cabinet.This is the fifth non-confidence vote that the government faces since the beginning of its ruling. The most recent one over the corruption in the government was put to the vote on Feb. 22 and failed. The debate on the motion must be held within three to seven days of its submission.
Nationalist Ataka party leader Volen Siderov said that his MPs did not sign the motion as it was not offered to them. He said that irrespective of whether they sign the motion, the Ataka MPs will support the no confidence vote in the plenary chamber.
The opposition said in the motion that the Interior Ministry leadership is linked with and protects the hidden clout of the grey economy because people in government get money from it.
The crisis in government was triggered by the disclosure of facts about a convergence between organized crime and the Interior Ministry leadership, the opposition argued.
According to DSB's Vesselin Metodiev, the no confidence motion is expected to further reduce trust in the government. He said that support for the ruling coalition fell 30 percent after the previous non-confidence vote in February, which was tabled over corruption in government.