site.btaUPDATED Parliament Fails to Elect Chair, Presiding Body Decides for Another Attempt on Nov. 22

Parliament failed to elect its chair Wednesday and its Presiding Body decided that they will make another - fifth - attempt to elect a leader on Friday, November 22. The decision was announced by MP Silvi Kirilov, the oldest MP in this Parliament and a member of the There Is Such a People (TISP) group, who is presiding over the session before a majority is formed to elect a chair.

While it is the second week of work of the new Parliament that was elected in the October 27 snap general elections, it is technically the first sitting as the MPs have so far been unable to elect their Chair: the first thing they have to do, according to the Constitution. 

The Constitution does not have a scenario where the MPs are unable to elect a Chair, making it hard for the strongly fragmented and divided Parliament to find a solution.

Wednesday saw the fourth attempt to elect a Parliament leader fail. Raya Nazaryan from GERB-UDF and Silvi Kirilov from There Is Such a People went to a second round of voting and received 69 and 101 votes in favour, respectively.

Nazaryan got 130 votes against and 38 abstentions. Kirilov garnered 54 votes against and 84 abstentions.

There were two more candidates in the first round of voting. Natalia Kisselova of the BSP-United Left group received 50 votes in favour, 51 against and 137 abstentions, and Petar Petrov, nominated by Vazrazhdane, garnered 47 votes in favour, 69 against, 122 abstentions.

The Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) coalition withdrew the nomination of Andrey Tsekov. CC said they would back Silvi Kirilov an DB said they would abstain.

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov blamed Democratic Bulgaria for the failure to elect Parliament Chair and said they are "an appendage to Peevski".

MECh leader Radistin Vassilev said that both Democratic Bulgaria and the Left get the blame for the current cul-de-sac in Parliament. He believes that Democratic Bulgaria do as GERB tell them.

TISP to try to talk Socialists, Democratic Bulgaria into voting for Kirilov

After the vote, MP Stanislav Balabanov (There Is Such a People) pointed out that Kirilov won the most support and that his party will try to talk BSP and Democratic Bulgaria into voting for him.

He said the alternative to the parties not talking to each other about forming a majority, is new elections where the choice will be Delyan Peevski with the bought votes or another caretaker Prime Minister.

As for Vazrazhdane, he said that while they have ideological differences with TISP, "this vote is not about Putin and how he will capture Sofia and the Bulgarian Parliament".

Balabanov's remark refers to the popular view of Vazrazhdane as having pro-Kremlin policies.

"It is important for Parliament to start work because we have become laughing stock for people," said Balabanov adding that the election of a Parliament Chair will show if there is a will to keep MRF-New Beginning from controlling the elections and the caretaker government.

The TISP deputy said in conclusion that "Peevski is running this country via GERB". 

MP Delyan Peevski said ahead of the failed vote that “the battle inside [Parliament] is for a caretaker prime minister. Let them decide and go to elections”. He described what was happening in the plenary hall as a misfortune, called for elections and for people to choose a clear governance.