The Bulgarian parliament has ousted its speaker in a new blow to the coalition government of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who faces a vote of no-confidence next week.
The opposition parties and the populist There Is Such A People (ITN) party, which quit the coalition last week, voted to remove Nikola Minchev from the post on accusations he violated parliamentary rules.
Minchev denied any wrongdoing.
Petkov, whose liberal-socialist coalition took office only six months ago, said Minchev's removal was due to a "new coalition being formed between all opposition parties and the people who stayed in the ITN."
Members from the center-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and three other parties voted for the dismissal of the 34-year-old Minchev of the Continue The Change (PP) party.
They combined for 125 votes against 113 for the government, which has only been in power since the end of 2021.
Minchev said the vote was a "rehearsal" for a no-confidence vote against Petkov's government.
Minchev's ousting raised concerns that Petkov's government could fall in the no-confidence vote, sending the Balkan country into a new round of political turmoil.
Petkov, who came into office in December on pledges to tackle high-level corruption, expressed hope that he could still find seven deputies needed to restore a majority.
He said last week after the populist ITN withdrew from the coalition that he was "optimistic" that the PP and its two remaining coalition partners could still deliver on pledges to uproot widespread corruption.
An eventual government collapse would likely lead to new elections in the autumn amid surging inflation.