Bulgaria’s Embattled Socialist Government Beats Back a Challenge

The embattled government of former Communists survived a no-confidence vote on Friday, but the opposition kept up the pressure by declaring a boycott in Parliament.

Petar Beron, leader of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, said his parliamentary faction is “temporarily interrupting its participation in Parliament” and consulting with voters.

Meanwhile, the nation’s largest union expressed disgust with both the government and the opposition. It said it would circulate a petition among its hundreds of thousands of members expressing no confidence in lawmakers.

Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov had tied his political fate to the parliamentary no-confidence vote. It came after months of wrangling between his Socialists and the opposition on how to turn around the moribund economy and end Bulgaria’s political paralysis.

The no-confidence motion was defeated 201 to 159 in secret balloting in the 400-seat Grand National Assembly. It came a day after lawmakers approved Lukanov’s austerity budget in a vote boycotted by the opposition. Lukanov had threatened to resign if his budget failed to pass.

Krastyu Petkov, head of the powerful independent labor federation Podkrepa, appealed to President Zhelyu Zhelev to call new elections. He told state television a nonpolitical government of experts should run the country in the interim.

A smaller trade union has called a general strike starting Monday if Lukanov does not step down before then. But the general prosecutor issued a statement Friday warning that strikes based on political demands were not permitted.

Before the vote, Lukanov defended himself against charges by the opposition that his government was ineffective. He called for “dialogue and honest compromise.”

The Socialists, formerly the Communist Party, won June elections and have 210 of the 400 seats in Parliament. But because some of those seats are held by renegades, Lukanov has not been able to count on a majority.

Scarce supplies of food, fuel and consumer goods have fired anger among Bulgaria’s frustrated citizens.