site.btaUPDATED Borissov to Nominate Raya Nazaryan for Parliament Head

Meeting with the GERB-UDF Parliamentary Group here on Tuesday, GERB leader Boyko Borissov said that he will nominate Raya Nazaryan for chairperson of the National Assembly on Wednesday, when the Bulgarian legislature elected on June 9 will hold its inaugural sitting. The meeting was livestreamed from the GERB Party headquarters.

If the nomination is approved, the party will carry on the [cabinet-forming] negotiations, if not, the negotiations will end, Borissov explained.

On Monday and Tuesday, a negotiating team of GERB-UDF, consisting of MPs Denitsa Sacheva, Temenuzhka Petkova and Raya Nazaryan, held talks at the National Assembly with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and There Is Such a People (TISP) in search of support for the formation of a "shared responsibility cabinet". The three other parliamentary parties: Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Vazrazhdane, BSP for Bulgaria and Velichie (Grandeur), were also invited to talks but did not show up. 

Borissov said he had decided against taking office as prime minister because the responsibility should be shared, even though this would be the real GERB comeback. "You have mandated the people next to me to negotiate. After that I would meet with everyone to sort out [parliamentary] committees and ministers," he pointed out, referring to the two days of talks held by the negotiating team.

Rest of Parties React

The BSP for Bulgaria Parliamentary Group will not back GERB's nomination for National Assembly chair, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) said on its website later on Tuesday.

After a meeting of the Group, it transpired that the Socialists had elected Borislav Gutsanov as their floor leader, Ivan Ivanov as deputy floor leader, and Deyan Dechev and Ivan Petkov as secretaries of the parliamentary group.

Dragomir Stoynev will be nominated for deputy chair of Parliament.

Before a meeting of the CC-DB Parliamentary Group, the coalition's co-chair Kiril Petkov told journalists that his group will not back GERB-UDF's nomination of Raya Nazaryan for chairperson of the 50th National Assembly.

"We know her well, and we don't think she is the right person for the top job of the land," he specified.

Petkov said that CC-DB will be firmly in opposition.

"Our coalition is together, we have very good dialogue, and you can expect us to be very constructive about the policies we believe and which are part of our programme," he added.

The CC-DB coalition has adopted a clear decision against backing Raya Nazaryan for National Assembly chair, Nikolay Denkov told journalists, emerging from a meeting of the parliamentary group later in the day.

"It is GERB's responsibility to ensure a majority vote for both head of parliament and cabinet," Denkov said further.

He specified that his parliamentary group will not nominate a National Assembly chair because their role of an opposition does not presuppose such a move.

Replying to a question, Denkov categorically denied that there is a rift in the coalition. "On the contrary, we are all mobilized, clearly we must work together," he added.

Electing a chairperson of the National Assembly requires a simply majority of the 240 MPs. GERB-UDF have 68 seats, MRF 47, CC-DB 39, Vazrazhdane 38, BSP for Bulgaria 19, TISP 16, and Velichie (Grandeur) 13.