SOFIA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria's nine-month-old coalition government, led by Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov, on Thursday survived its fifth no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.
The opposition introduced the motion, citing alleged failures in internal security and justice, but it secured only 101 votes in favor in the 240-seat legislature. Backing came from the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition, the Revival party, the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, Mech, and Greatness.
A total of 133 deputies voted against the motion, including members of the ruling coalition of GERB-UDF, BSP-United Left, There Is Such People (ITN), and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms-New Beginning. A successful no-confidence motion requires support from more than half of all lawmakers.
During Wednesday's parliamentary debate, Nataliya Kiselova, the Assembly's speaker and a member of BSP-United Left, said the opposition failed to specify actions the cabinet had neglected or carried out unlawfully, instead referring to longstanding problems predating the current administration.
The latest motion follows four previous unsuccessful attempts earlier this year, which targeted the government's handling of foreign affairs, corruption, fiscal management, and the environment and water sector.
Under Bulgaria's constitution, at least one-fifth of lawmakers must initiate a no-confidence vote, and a second motion on the same grounds cannot be filed within six months.
Jeliazkov's government was sworn in on Jan. 16 after Bulgaria's October 2024 snap elections, the country's seventh parliamentary election in just three and a half years. ■
