Deputies elected Natalia Kiselova as Speaker of the National Assembly on their 11th attempt

After 26 days, during which the first session continued and a record 11 attempts, the deputies of the National Assembly elected Natalia Kiselova, nominated by the "BSP - United Left", as Speaker.

Of the 233 registered deputies in the plenary hall, Kiselova received the support of 140, 93 MPs were against, there were no abstentions. A re-vote was requested, after which the results were: 140 votes "for", 93 "against", there were no abstentions.

The newly elected Speaker of the Parliament promised that she would be the first among equals and would be the Speaker of all.

"Bulgarian citizens certainly need to hear three things – there is hope, sweat and tears – it will not be easy, the efforts must be worth it. Thank you all. From today on, I will be the chairman of all," she said.

"Compromises are an issue that will be discussed, but when a decision is made, it must be respected," added Assoc. Prof. Kiselova.

Who is Natalia Kiselova

Assoc. Prof. Natalia Kiselova has been a "doctor" in Constitutional Law since 2008. She has been a lecturer at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" since 2005 in the Department of Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law. Expert in constitutional law and human rights. She is the author of the monograph "Political Rights of Bulgarian Citizens".

In the period 2003-2005 she was a full-time doctoral student in the Department of Constitutional Law. In 2007 defended her doctoral dissertation on the topic of "Parliamentary Control".

In the period 2006-2009 she was an expert at the Standing Committee on State Administration in the 16th National Assembly. She held the position of "state expert" in the Directorate "Legislation Council" in the Ministry of Justice in the period November 2010-January 2012.

She specialized at the University of Cambridge (2015) and the Moscow State University "Lomonosov" (2014). She was an advisor on legal issues (2012 - 2016) and secretary on legal issues to the President Rosen Plevneliev (2016-2017).