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Bulgarian Leader Advances Constitution Plan as Violence Erupts

Bulgarian Protesters Renew Pressure as Premier Seeks Support

Bulgaria’s prime minister won support to launch a bid to overhaul of the nation’s constitution, fending off calls for his resignation as clashes erupted in the capital between protesters and police.

Boyko Borissov gathered more than the required 120 signatures from parliament’s 240 members to start the process of reworking the Balkan state’s charter on Wednesday. The dispute came to a head earlier when anti-corruption demonstrations erupted in violence in front of the assembly and opposition-backed President Rumen Radev said his rival’s departure was “unavoidable.”.

Borissov, who’s resigned as prime minister before in 2013 and 2017, has proposed rewriting the constitution to increase judicial independence. It will kick off a parliament discussion that will last at least two months. The premier has said he’ll step aside when a special assembly is approved to edit the law -- in November at the earliest -- which will require a two-thirds majority to pass.

“In the next two months, we’ll initiate a series of public and expert discussions, and we’ll look for consensus,” said Daniela Daritkova, the caucus leader of Borissov’s Gerb party. “We have the trust our voters.”

Protesters threw rocks and eggs as they tried to break through a security cordon at the parliament building in central Sofia. Police dispersed the crowd with pepper spray.

More than 100 officers received medical aid during the demonstrations, Georgi Hadzhiev, the head of the police in Sofia, the capital, told reporters. At least 35 people were detained, and more than 45 were hurt. Six remain hospitalized.

Borissov has been harried by graft scandals, probes against former and current ministers and leaked wiretaps alleging his involvement in abuse of power. Radev has accused him and Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev of harboring links to organized crime.

Both Borissov and Geshev deny wrongdoing and say powerful oligarchs are trying to push them out.

“There’s no other way out of the blockade of the state except for a peaceful, normal political act of resignation when there’s no trust,” Radev told lawmakers Wednesday. “These resignations are unavoidable.”

The country has been repeatedly criticized by European Union institutions for its insufficient rule of law, and ranks the worst in the bloc in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.