Bulgaria: The First Plenary Day ended without the Election of a Speaker of the National Assembly

Presiding over the first session of the 49th Parliament, Vezhdi Rashidov closed the plenary day without an elected Speaker of the Parliament.

This happened after the end of the break, in which the MPs walked out after they failed to elect a Speaker on the first attempt.

"For today, the meeting ends and I invite you to sleep one more night and I'm waiting for you tomorrow," said Rashidov.

Earlier today, the parliament did not approve either of the two nominations for Speaker of the National Assembly - Rosen Zhelyazkov from GERB-SDS and Petar Petrov from "Vazrazhdane". "Vazrazhdane" candidate Petar Petrov received 37 votes "for", 88 "against" and 39 "abstentions". Rosen Zhelyazkov, proposed by GERB-SDS, received 79 "for", 8 "against" and 144 "abstentions" votes.

After none of the nominees was elected, Asen Vassilev, the co-chairman of "We Continue the Change", proposed that the National Assembly be presided over on a rotating basis.