Dimitar Glavchev Resigned as Speaker of Bulgaria’s Parliament

Dimitar Glavchev resigned as Speaker of Bulgaria’s Parliament on 17th of November. The decison was made in a meeting with the Prime Minister and the leaders of all parliamentary groups. The MPs voted to elect Tsveta Karayancheva to replace him.

The recent political scandal reached the outcome that the opposition demanded - DimitarGlavchev’s resignation as Speaker of Parliament.

During the meeting, the majority voted against Glavchev’s resignation, but the opposition was firm that only then they would return the plenary hall. The meeting lasted for about an hour and the Speaker of the Parliament announced his decision to withdraw from office. Glavchev said it is a moral act. He motivated the decision with willingness to normalize the work environment in the Parliament and said that no shadow should be cast on the forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said it was clear that this was a well-thought-out plan of the opposition, but always argued that the state and the stability in it was more important than anything.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Chair of GERB Parliamentary Group said that the President of the European Parliament is expected to address the Bulgarian Parliament next week. “We would not want to picture that half of the plenary hall might be empty”, he said.

Kornelia Ninova, Chair of BSP Parliamentary Group said that Mr. Glavchev’s decision was inevitable and right, but it is also a bitter lesson for the whole political class and especially for the ruling majority - that it is normal to have ruling and opposition.

Mustafa Karaday, Chair of the MRF Parliamentary Group said the mebers of his party highly appreciated Mr. Glavchev’s personal decision to submit his resignation. We call for the next Speaker of Parliament to be at the level of the institution's requirements, he added.

An hour after Glavchev resigned, the Parliament elected Tsveta Karayancheva as Speaker. She was nominated by GERB Parliamentary Group. 138 MPs voted to support her nomination, 3 voted against, and 71 abstained.