Tenth day of first sitting of Bulgaria’s Parliament again fails to produce a Speaker
The December 5 tenth day of the first sitting of Bulgaria’s strife-torn 51st National Assembly – elected on October 27 and the first sitting of which began on November 11 – again failed to see a Speaker elected.
There were four candidates at the first round: Atanas Atanassov (We Continue the Change -Democratic Bulgaria), Natalia Kiselova (Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left), Petar Petrov (Vuzrazhdane) and Silvi Kirilov, the 73-year-old ITN MP who as this Parliament’s oldest member has been presiding over the sitting pending the election of a Speaker.
None of the four got the required half plus one of votes of MPs present to be elected.
In the first round, Kiselova got the most votes, 88, and Kirilov 82, and matters proceeded to a second round between the two.
In the second round, Kiselova first got 89 votes in favour, 60 against, with 88 abstentions, and in a re-vote, 118 in favour, 30 against, with 90 abstentions.
A total of 238 MPs voted, meaning that had Kiselova got two more votes, she would have been elected.
Natalia Kiselova
The votes for Kiselova came from Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF coalition, the BSP – United Left and Delyan Peevski’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning. The MRF – New Beginning vote was a new development, after in all previous votes it had voted against.
The WCC – Democratic Bulgaria coalition did not support Kiselova. WCC had said that it could support her on condition that the BSP – United Left formally signed WCC – DB’s declaration placing a cordon sanitaire around Peevski, a controversial figure subject to US and UK sanctions for corruption.
Kirilov got 99 votes for, 120 against, with 19 abstentions in the second round.
Silvi Kirilov
The votes for Kirilov came from part of the WCC-DB coalition (with 17 in favour, two against and 18 abstaining), pro-Kremlin party Vuzrazhdane, the Ahmed Dogan loyalists the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, ITN and Mech.
The sitting is to continue on December 6 at 10am.
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