site.btaMPs Choose From Among 4 Candidates for 51st National Assembly Chair

There are four candidates for Chair of the 51st National Assembly in the fifth attempt to elect the head of the new legislature.

The GERB-UDF reaffirmed the candidacy of Raya Nazarian for the post. Temenuzhka Petkova highlighted parts of her biography. "What I can say is that Ms Nazaryan is an excellent lawyer", Petkova said. "Nazaryan was a successful Chair of the 50th National Assembly. She was the person who strictly followed the rules, always sought and found balance", Petkova added, urging the MPs to return to the normal parliamentary practice, which requires the first political force to elect the Chair of the Bulgarian parliament. Petkova said that on October 27 the Bulgarian citizens had awarded the first seat to GERB-UDF and called on the MPs to fulfil the will of the Bulgarian citizens and elect Raya Nazaryan as Parliament Chair.

BSP-United Left nominated again Assoc. Prof. Natalia Kiselova for the post. Borislav Gutsanov said that the road to consensus is mined by red lines. He pointed out that it was time to stop the antagonism. In his words, electing a Chair is not a way out of the crisis and a mathematical majority will open the way for floating majorities in parliament. Gutsanov said they were inviting all parliamentary groups that wanted to put an end to this to form a non-partisan majority that would stand behind a few clear priorities. "Politics is the art of the possible, let's do the possible", Gutsanov urged, adding that with the election of Silvi Kirilov Bulgaria would head towards early parliamentary elections.

Vazrazhdane nominated Petar Petrov once again. "He is a determined, firm and consistent person, we believe he is the most suitable candidate who can lead this parliament out of the political crisis it is in", said Vazrazhdane MP Tsveta Rangelova. 

There Is Such People (TISP) nominated the oldest MP in this National Assembly - Silvi Kirilov, to be Chair until a majority is formed. TISP MP Toshko Yordanov is convinced that Vazrazhdane, Continue the Change, ARF and MECh groups would overcome their own party goals in this situation, which leaves only the parliamentary groups of BSP - United Left and Democratic Bulgaria. 

Toshko Yordanov said that TISP had a meeting with BSP on Thursday and, in his words, TISP answered all of BSP's fears and questions. "And now we get a declaration devoid of common sense, which states the false sentence that if Silvi Kirilov is elected, we go to elections", Yordanov noted. In his words, with this action the BSP aim to dilute, delay and stop the process. Yordanov reminded DB about the declaration of a "cordon sanitaire" against Peevski and MRF-New Beginning. "You insisted a lot on a declaration. We signed it, we will work with you together on all these points", Yordanov said, pointing out that Silvi Kirilov is not a Vazrazhdane candidate. "Instead of making a cordon sanitaire, you open a huge gap in this cordon and lay flowers and roses", Yordanov said.