Parliament to discuss procedural rules for nomination and election of head of Counter-Corruption Commission

Parliament will debate today a draft decision on the adoption of rules of procedure for the nomination of candidates and the election of a chairman of the Counter-Corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Commission (CCUAAFC).

Continue the Change (CC) set a condition in the negotiations for the formation of a government with the third exploratory mandate: the anti-corruption legislation to be adopted and outgoing Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov to be elected chairman of the CCUAAFC.

The second item on the National Assembly's agenda for today is the second reading of amendments to the Gambling Act. The amendments tabled by MPs from There Is Such a People (TISP) were approved at first reading by Parliament last week.

The voted changes extend the scope of gambling games organised by the State-owned Bulgarian Sports Totalisator (BST) to include games with betting on random events and betting related to knowledge of facts.

The amendments regulate that gambling shall be organised through betting points located in the totalisator's own or leased premises, or in locations owned or leased by retailers contracted by the totalisator for distribution on its behalf and at its expense; and through self-service devices that are separated and marked as betting points for the relevant games of chance.

During the first-reading discussion it was noted that the bill aims to prevent the bankruptcy of the Bulgarian Sports Totalisator and to preserve nearly 1,000 lottery kiosks on the verge of closure.

Yesterday, the Budget and Finance Committee in Parliament voted on second reading amendments to the Gambling Act. Between the first and second vote, two proposals were put forward. The original limit on the number of lottery kiosks in Bulgaria, set to avoid the uncontrolled distribution of gambling by the state enterprise, was upped from 3,000 to 4,000 on a proposal by Yordan Tsonev, MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). 

The legislative debates in Parliament will be followed by Question Time with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Industry Korneliya Ninova and the outgoing ministers of Interior, Boyko Rashkov, and of Culture, Atanas Atanasov.