12 Renegade MPs Adopted by Bulgaria's Rulers, Pledge Allegiance to Borisov
A total of 12 of the 18 "independent" members of the Bulgarian Parliament, renegades from a wide array of political parties, have issued a declaration backing PM Boyko Borisov and providing his minority government with a parliamentary majority.
The 12 MPs in question - Valetin Nikolov, Ventsislav Varbanov, Darin Matov, Dimitar Kolev, Dimitar Chukarski, Kiril Gumnerov, Kasim Dal, Korman Ismailov, Mario Tagarinski, Ognyan Peychev, Stoyan Ivanov, and Todor Velikov - are former representatives of all formations in Parliament except for the ruling party GERB and the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Thus, the renegade MPs come from the rightist Blue Coalition, the marginal conservative party RZS (Law, Order, Justice), the nationalist party Ataka, and even the opposition ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms).
In addition to declaring their support for the government of Boyko Borisov and his party GERB, the renegade MPs criticize the opposition - i.e. the Socialists and DPS backed by the Blue Coalition - for initiating a third no confidence vote for the Cabinet (which was tabled on Monday). (Source: Sofia News Agency)