Bulgaria’s joint governance council agrees to rotate post of Speaker of Parliament
At a meeting of the ruling coalition’s joint governance council on October 28, it was agreed that the post of Speaker of the National Assembly will be rotated, according to Kostadin Angelov of Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF, holder of the mandate to govern.
Angelov told reporters that an annex to the joint governance agreement would be signed on October 29, bringing into immediate effect the principle of the rotation of the post.
He said that the resignation of the current Speaker, Natalia Kiselova of the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left coalition – a minority partner in the ruling majority – had not been discussed.
Asked how long the rotation would last, Angelov said that this would become clear when the annex is signed.
Yordan Tsonev of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning party, which is led by Magnitsky Act-sanctioned Delyan Peevski – which is not formally part of the ruling coalition but which is key to its continued existence – was present at the briefing, which led to a question whether the MRF – New Beginning’s participation in government was discussed.
“The MRF, as Peevski said, does not participate in the government, will not participate in discussing any personnel issues related to power, we only participate in discussing policies that are important to the people, that’s why we participate in this council when policies are discussed,” Tsonev said.
The decision on the rotation of the post of Speaker was a sequel to a political drama sparked by Borissov when his party did badly in a local by-election in Pazardzhik, in which Peevski’s party acquired by far the largest share of votes.
Borissov called for the “reformatting” of the government and spoke of possibly bringing Peevski’s party formally into the ruling coalition, but Peevski refused this idea.
At a meeting on October 21 of the joint governance council, GERB-UDF and ITN, a populist party that is a minority partner in government, raised the idea of rotating the post of Speaker of Parliament.
As The Sofia Globe reported, this proposal was accepted by the BSP – United Left at a meeting on October 26.
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