site.btaGERB's Raya Nazaryan to Head Parliament, Chairperson to Be Rotated Every Ten Months

Raya Nazaryan will replace Nataliya Kiselova as Chair of the National Assembly following an agreement in the government coalition of GERB-UDF, BSP-United Left and There Is Such a People (TISP), GERB announced on Facebook on Tuesday. The parties agreed that the chairperson will rotate every ten months.

The Joint Governance Council of the three-party coalition decided on Tuesday to introduce rotational chairmanship of Parliament, Kostadin Angelov MP of GERB-UDF, who chairs the Council, told reporters after its meeting. He said the arrangement would be put into effect on Wednesday as an annex to the coalition's governance agreement. The rotation will take effect once the annex is signed.

Nazaryan, who is now deputy floor leader of GERB-UDF, will replace Nataliya Kiselova, who was nominated by BSP-United Left. Kiselova was elected to lead the Bulgarian Parliament in the 11th attempt on December 6, 2024.

Nazaryan chaired the previous parliament and was GERB-UDF's nominee for the post in the present National Assembly, which held its inaugural sitting on November 11, 2024.

On October 26, the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) approved a proposal for a rotational chairmanship of the National Assembly, party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov announced. The decision was supported by 100 members, with three abstentions and two votes against. 

On October 21, after a meeting of the Joint Governance Council, it became known that GERB and TISP had raised the issue of introducing a rotating parliamentary chairmanship.