Bulgarian Parliament with a second attempt to elect a president

After the failure of the election of the 50th National Assembly Speaker on the opening day of the parliament - June 19, the first sitting of the new members of parliament continues today.

Yesterday, MPs took the oath of office and voted in two rounds to elect a speaker. In the first round, four candidates were put to the vote - Raya Nazaryan from GERB-SDS, Petar Petrov from Vazrazhdane, Silvi Kirilov from ITN and Juliana Mateeva from Velichie. After no one managed to gather the necessary support, a second round was held, in which the vote was cast for the two nominees who won the most votes - Raya Nazarian and Petar Petrov, but again no one received the necessary support. 

Commenting on the failure of the first session of the National Assembly, the leader of the first parliamentary force - GERB, Boyko Borissov, said that "we are flying towards elections", while the chairman of the second force - MRF, Delyan Peevski, called on all parties "to humble themselves" and expressed hope that "they will come to their senses".

The difficult election of the speaker of the Bulgarian parliament is not a precedent. In the 49th Parliament, the drama surrounding this election lasted a week.