SOFIA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria's coalition government of the center-right GERB party and the nationalist United Patriots survived a no-confidence motion in parliament Thursday, less than a year after coming to power.
The motion was backed by 103 deputies of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, while 131 voted against it.
The BSP had filed the no-trust motion on Jan. 17, accusing the government led by GERB Chairman Boyko Borisov of inability to cope with corruption.
At a debate Tuesday, BSP leader Korneliya Ninova said corruption was rampant in Bulgaria, conquering everything from the lowest to the highest levels, and the government's efforts to control it were weak.
But Tsvetan Tsvetanov, GERB's parliamentary party leader, defended the party by saying that when the BSP was in power, Bulgaria's credit rating was low, while under the GERB, the outlook was positive.
The economic indicator reflects the country's policies and level of corruption, Tsvetanov said.
In recent months, corruption has been a major issue of confrontation between the BSP and the GERB-led parliamentary majority.
In December 2017, the majority adopted an anti-corruption law, but Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, supported by the BSP, vetoed it, saying the measures it outlined were not enough to combat corruption.
