Extraordinary Parliament Sitting Fails Due to Lack of Quorum
At the first attempt, 107 MPs registered, and at the second 109. Parliament failed to reach the quorum needed for the extraordinary sitting.
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The Bulgarian National Assembly's extraordinary sitting on 21 October 2026 could not proceed because there was no quorum. At the first roll call, 107 MPs registered, rising to 109 at the second. At least 121 of the 240 MPs are needed to open a sitting.
The sitting was convened at the request of Assen Vassilev and a group of MPs from We Continue the Change. They sought hearings on the circumstances surrounding the pardon of Ognyan Atanasov, referred to in Bulgarian media as the Petrich Escobar.
National Assembly Speaker Mihaela Dotsova announced that the sitting could not take place without a quorum. The planned discussion and hearings therefore did not begin.
The failed extraordinary sitting is separate from the previously announced suspension of regular plenary sittings from 21 to 30 October. Parliament can still be convened extraordinarily, provided a quorum is present.
Sources: Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), 21 October 2026; bTV, 21 October 2026.
Illustrative photograph: Nico Ruge / Unsplash. The photograph shows a parliamentary chamber, but does not depict today's sitting or Bulgaria's National Assembly.
