Kiselova resigns as Speaker of Bulgaria’s Parliament
Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left MP Natalia Kiselova resigned on October 29 as Speaker of the National Assembly, a post she had held since its first sitting in December 2024.
Kiselova’ resignation is a consequence of an agreement among the parties of the ruling majority that the post of Speaker should rotate among them.
Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF, Parliament’s largest group and holder of the mandate to govern, is to nominate Raya Nazaryan, currently a Deputy Speaker and who was Speaker of the 50th National Assembly, to be elected as next Speaker of the 51st.
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.
Kiselova, announcing her resignation, said: In the past few days, it has been said that in politics no one owes anyone anything – quite the opposite. We owe it to the citizens who voted for all of us a year ago, to the citizens who did not go to exercise their electoral rights a year ago.
“Over the past 5 years, the political crisis has not subsided. We lack the skills for mutual agreement, for a coalition culture,” Kiselova said.
“As a member of Parliament and as part of the BSP Parliamentary Group, we have proven that in critical moments for the state we can be responsible at the height of the historical moment.
“Today I am resigning and in this way I am showing how one should act with a sense of duty and responsibility towards parliamentary practice in the conditions of joint governance.
The Rules of Procedure have provided for how one should act in such cases, namely – the Deputy Speaker from the largest parliamentary group. It was an honour for me!”
Borissov told reporters that the presiding officers council would decide when the election of the next Speaker would be held.
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