New failure: MPs were again unable to elect a Speaker of the National Assembly

The MPs failed to elect a Speaker of the National Assembly and for the fourth time, they left the door open, but after two 30-minute breaks they again postponed the outcome. Thus, on Friday at 10:00 in the morning, the people's representatives will make the fifth attempt in a row to choose the first among equals.

The 51st National Assembly was about to go into oblivion, because after the last break, the temporary chairman, Silvi Kirilov, announced: "I am terminating the session." At that moment, the hall burst into noise because this means closing the first session of the 51st Parliament without a Speaker, and then the situation goes into an even bigger deadlock, since there is no way to even call new elections.

Kirilov immediately caught himself, corrected the slip and repeated several times, to be sure: "I am interrupting the meeting".

It was he who was the closest today to the election of the chairman, elevated by the ITN to the election of the incumbent by a majority, just to unblock the work of the parliament. 101 people's representatives voted for Silvi Kirilov in the second round, in which she appeared together with GERB nominee Raya Nazaryan.

However, Kirilov's candidacy managed to split the PP-DB group - half of the deputies voted for him, the other half abstained, so as not to end up in the same boat as "Vazrazhdane". 17 people's representatives from the coalition voted for his candidacy, and 19 abstained, with one voting "against".

Toshko Yordanov and Kostadin Kostadinov accused them of hypocrisy. "Are words and honor worth that much to you?", the MP from ITN turned directly to Yavor Bozhankov from PP, promising to check and announce the printout of the vote by name. Yordanov made the stipulation that at least DB had told each other in advance that they would not support Silvi Kirilov.

"Vazrazhdane" gave a shoulder to the candidate of ITN, although they had not made such a promise in advance. The twist came in the runoff after their candidate Petar Petrov dropped out in the first round.

"To address the hypocrites from the PP-DB, you are Peevski's property, you are a shame for Bulgaria," exploded the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov.

Silvi Kirilov also received the votes of "Alliance for Rights and Freedoms" and MECH, but not "BSP - United Left".

Although their candidate Nataliya Kiselova also dropped out of the run-off, the socialists together with GERB and "DPS - New Beginning" voted monolithically "against" Kirilov being elected as the head of parliament.

After the vote, Silvi Kirilov gave a half-hour break, but promised to try again.

The break was followed by another 30-minute break - this time at the request of the BSP, in order to hold a Chairman's Council with the participation of all political forces. "To decide how we proceed from here on," motivated Borislav Gutsanov.

Two scandals already at the beginning of the day delayed the scheduled 11:00 a.m. vote for the election of the Speaker of the Parliament by almost an hour. First PP-DB and "Vazrazhdane" argued about who was a fascist and swore that they would never rule together. Then the BSP and ITN quarreled about who they associate with the "New Beginning". The reason for the dispute was the support and lack of support for Silvi Kirilov's candidacy as the technical chairman of the National Assembly in his capacity as the oldest deputy.

Before the cross-party squabbles erupted in the chamber, the impasse over the election of the Speaker did not appear to be any different from the one we have seen for three days since November 11, with the only difference being that the nominations for the chair of the first among equals have decreased by one.

They remain four, but the parties that nominated them did not give up in favor of the doyenne Silvi Kirilov, as urged by "There is such a people". The proposal was for a technical Speaker of Parliament to resign as soon as a new majority and a regular government were formed.

Their appeal was heeded only by PP-DB, who made a compromise and withdrew their candidate for the post - Andrey Tsekov. The first by the result of the vote - GERB, do not back down from the nomination of Raya Nazaryan, considering that it is rightfully theirs, as the winners of the vote.

Temenuzka Petkova reaffirmed the candidacy on behalf of the first group in terms of numbers and called for "wisdom and a responsible attitude" so that the National Assembly can function.

The leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov once again nominated the lawyer Petar Petrov. From the rostrum, he called on the PP-DB to conduct an examination between democracy and freedom, and Peevski.

"Be careful how you vote!" he warned them, his tone causing a roar of reaction from the hall.

Toshko Yordanov from ITN again raised Silvi Kirilov and thanked for the support of PP-DB.

"The right decision to get out of this situation is to elect the oldest as the chairman until a majority is formed. I thank the PP-DB for their responsible behavior, which are doing the right thing and above their narrow party interests," he reported.

Yordanov appealed specifically to " Vazrazhdane" to revive parliamentarism.

"All those who do not vote for Kirilov in the run-off are voting for the Glavchev cabinet," the deputy from ITN previously accused.

And he emphasized that he will monitor who - how he will vote, to see if the talk will match the deeds. He put the choice like this - between Glavchev and democracy, with the proviso that this will happen if we go to new elections.

The nominations and voting were displaced by an ideological dispute between "Vazrazhdane" and PP-DB along the lines of who supports whom. They insulted each other and "fascists".

"Vazrazhdane" triumphantly summed up the situation with the blockade as follows: "Everything depends on our votes," said Tsoncho Ganev.

Kostadinov retorted that PP-DB have already stated that they will not vote together with "Vazrazhdane". And he noted that ITN puts "We continue the change - "Democratic Bulgaria" before a very difficult choice - "either "Vazrazhdane" or Peevski", which he would watch with interest.

Kiril Petkov did not hold back and responded to Kostadinov's challenge. He pointed out that PP-DB has nothing to do with "Vazrazhdane" because they are leading us to Russia. But he reminded that the entire Bulgarian people are watching how the parliament cannot start work.

"It is an absolute shame that after another meeting there is no elected chairman", Petkov justified the PP-DB's choice to support Kirilov. He added that their decision was also motivated by the reluctance to allow Borislav Sarafov to become the chief prosecutor. Petkov called on all parties to take a step back and abandon their narrow party interest in favor of Silvi Kirilov.

"We saw your photo on the Red Square," he added and accused "Vazrazhdane" of hiding that they were working with GERB at the same time.

"PP-DB will never govern with you, because we have different values ​​and we believe that some of your statements are fascist and offensive to our voters," Kiril Petkov also said.

Kostadinov felt challenged to respond with the line: "It is an honor for Mr. Petkov that he sometimes speaks the truth." The leader of "Vazrazhdane" stated that his party never intended to govern with the PP-DB. He pointed out the great differences between them, including the development of human civilization.

And he made the observation that from "Vazrazhdane" they are democrats, and from PP-DB - fascists.

The BSP asked - do the deputies elect a chairman or a candidate for acting prime minister. The Socialists believe that the National Assembly is still electing a parliamentary leader, and on their behalf Borislav Gutsanov once again appointed Assoc. Natalia Kiselova.

"We think that our candidate is the best and there is no one more suitable than him, the key word is dialogue," Gutsanov stressed about the professor of constitutional law. Gutsanov added in her plus that she is the most equidistant figure among the nominees.

Arguments also followed between BSP and ITN, who accused each other of being close to DPS.

Atanas Zafirov blamed PP-DB and "Vazrazhdane" for shifting the topic to the election of the chairman and demanded that the candidates be heard.

In response, Toshko Yordanov accused the BSP of blurring the debates and warned that the vote will show whether they will really be called "BSP - New Beginning".

"Mr. Yordanov, I don't know who you call "New Beginning", but they call you "the little DPS", Zafirov answered the accusation with an accusation.

Radostin Vasilev from MECH tried to ground the disputants by emphasizing that the voters are not interested in the quarrels of the four formations, but in the election of the chairman of the National Assembly.

GERB did not take part in the debates.