Sofia, Dec 20 (BTA/GNA) – Bulgaria’s Parliament on Wednesday voted, 165-71 with one abstention, to pass conclusively a bill to amend and supplement the country’s Constitution, moved by GERB-UDF, Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) on July 28.
The votes in favour came from GERB-UDF, CC-DB and MRF. Those against were BSP for Bulgaria, Vazrazhdane and There Is Such a People (TISP). MP Boyko Rashkov MP of CC-DB abstained.
The bill was approved by a roll-call vote at a third and final reading.
Before the draft legislation was put to the vote, National Assembly Deputy Chair Nikola Minchev MP of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria read the text of the bill which passed on first reading on December 8 and on second reading on December 19.
To be approved, the amendments had to be approved on all three readings by at least two thirds of all 240 MPs, i.e. by 160 votes.
The amendments reformed the judicial system, limit some of the President’s powers, and democratize the election of members of regulatory and control authorities.
Later in the day, MPs of BSP for Bulgaria, TISP and Vazrazhdane traded recriminations of backing the pro-government majority because they did not walk out of the plenary sitting and secured a quorum when the revisions to the Constitution were put to the vote and carried.
BTA/GNA