The MPs from the 48th National Assembly failed to elect a Chairperson of the Parliament after two procedures with two repeated votes each. They created an unprecedented situation. Vezhdi Rashidov announced at the end of the day that the procedure will continue tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.
Initially, there were four nominees for the position – Rosen Zhelyazkov from GERB-UDF, Nikola Minchev from „We Continue the Change“, Petar Petrov from „Vazrazhdane“ and Kristian Vigenin from „BSP for Bulgaria“.
In the first vote, none of the candidates managed to gather the support of the majority. Therefore, a run-off was held between the nominees with the most votes – Rosen Zhelyazkov and Nikola Minchev. In a repeat vote, none of the candidates received the support of the majority.
After a break and consultations, the deputies started a new procedure for electing the Chairperson of the Parliament. In the repeated procedure, the MRF proposed their nomination for the Chairperson of the 48th National Assembly in the face of Yordan Tsonev, and GERB-UDF, „We Continue the Change“, „Vazrazhdane“ and „BSP for Bulgaria“ reproposed their nominees. Thus, the nominees became five.
After the third vote, Yordan Tsonev received the support of 34 people, 97 MPs voted against his candidacy, 102 abstained. 28 people supported Christian Vigenin, 35 MPs voted against his candidacy, 175 abstained. 73 voted for Nikola Minchev, 35 against, 130 abstained. 27 people supported Petar Petrov, 94 MPs voted against his candidacy, 118 abstained.
A runoff followed between the two who gathered the most votes – Nikola Minchev and Rosen Zhelyazkov. The “We Continue the Change” candidate gathered the approval of 97, 42 voted against, 100 abstained. His opponent from GERB was supported by 67, 87 against, 85 abstained.
Kiril Petkov stated that they would keep the promises they made before the election, so as not to deceive half a million voters, as well as to solve people’s problems.
„There will be no unprincipled dialogue and deals under the table,“, Petkov said and called on the GERB-UDF to step aside so that the National Assembly can choose someone who could gain the trust of the MPs.
“We’re going into the Catch 22 again! Hristo Mutafchiev asked if we were normal. If we don’t sit down and understand each other as at a round table, in the name of the Bulgarian people, because they belong to all of us, I think that the people will wipe us all out. Let’s be wiser a little more and tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. we will continue the session,„, with these words of Rashidov today’s meeting of the newly elected Parliament ended.
