Bulgarian government survives no-confidence vote for the second time this month

(Patria) - The Bulgarian government, led by Rosen Zhelyazkov, survived a no-confidence vote yesterday initiated by the opposition "due to failure to combat widespread corruption".

The no-confidence vote, the second this month, was initiated by the populist party MECh and supported by MPs from the Vazrazhdane and Velichie parties. The motion did not receive the required majority.

72 MPs voted for the no-confidence motion, while 130 voted against it, with no abstentions. For the motion to pass, support from more than half of the MPs in the 240-member parliament was needed.

According to reports, the ruling coalition, led by the GERB party, managed to reject the accusations of ineffective fight against corruption.

The pro-Western opposition decided not to participate in the vote, stating that they did not want to destabilize the government ahead of the European Commission's report on Bulgaria's accession to the eurozone.

After the vote, Parliament Speaker Natalia Kiselova reminded that a new motion for a no-confidence vote on the same grounds cannot be submitted for the next six months.