Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee failed to reach a quorum on Wednesday for an extraordinary sitting to consider at first reading amendments requiring the President’s Administration to publish all pardon decrees in the State Gazette, including previously unpublished ones.
The amendments to the State Gazette Act were tabled by Continue the Change (CC) MP Assen Vassilev and a group of MPs. Representatives of all opposition parliamentary groups were present, while Progressive Bulgaria (PB) was represented only by Committee Chair Yanka Tyankova. Twelve MPs were needed for a quorum, but only 10 were present.
The amendments come amid controversy over the 2022 pardon of drug trafficker Ognyan Atanasov, granted by then vice president and current President Iliana Iotova, and an alleged fight involving inmates at the prison hospital on November 16, 2022.
On Tuesday, Parliament failed to hold extraordinary sitting over Atanasov’s pardon due to a lack of quorum. Present were three MPs from PB, 28 from GERB-UDF, 16 from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, 18 from Democratic Bulgaria, 13 from CC and two from Vazrazhdane.
CC Floor Leader Nikolay Denkov said that the more the ruling parties block sittings, the clearer it becomes that they want to hide something. “There is nothing in this bill for them to be afraid of,” he added.
Vazrazhdane MP Peter Petrov said that in his five years as an MP and member of the Legal Affairs Committee, this was the first time he had seen an extraordinary sitting of the committee boycotted by the ruling majority. He expressed hope that it would not happen again.
Democratic Bulgaria Floor Leader Nadejda Iordanova said the ruling majority had quickly learned to use parliamentary procedural rules to avoid votes.
Before closing the sitting, Tyankova said she had nothing more to add beyond noting the lack of quorum. She later declined to comment to the media.
After the sitting, CC MP Stoyu Stoev told reporters that a 2012 Constitutional Court ruling indicated that such amendments to the State Gazette Act should be adopted. Criminal proceedings and court judgments are public, while pardons remain outside public scrutiny and affect the public interest, he said. Stoev added that PB could have defended its position with legal arguments and said he did not understand why the issue was uncomfortable for the group.
Denkov said signatures would be collected to request another extraordinary sitting of the committee.
Legal Affairs Committee Fails to Consider Bill Requiring Publication of President’s Pardon Decrees 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-14 14:14:21
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