site.btaRosen Zhelyazkov Is Top-of-the-List Candidate of GERB-UDF for Blagoevgrad 1st Constituency

BTA will publish the names of the top-of-the-list candidates of every party/coalition for all constituencies for the April 19 parliamentary elections. The information about the candidates is provided by the respective political entity, the candidates themselves and other official sources.

Rosen Zhelyazkov is the top-of-the-list candidate of GERB-UDF for Blagoevgrad’s 1st multi-member constituency.

He was born on 5 April 1968 in Sofia. He graduated in law from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, after which he worked successively as legal adviser, senior legal adviser, secretary and mayoral deputy in the Sredets district of Sofia Municipality. For three years from 1995, he was a lawyer in civil and commercial law. In 1998-1999 he was deputy mayor of the Lozenets district of Sofia Municipality in charge of legality and control, according to information previously published by BTA.

In November 2003, Rosen Zhelyazkov was appointed secretary of Sofia Municipality. He remained in the post until 2009, when he was appointed chief secretary of the Council of Ministers. Between 2011 and 2013 he was chair of the Board of the Institute of Public Administration and Bulgaria’s representative at the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

On 5 December 2014, Rosen Zhelyazkov was appointed adviser to prime minister Boyko Borissov on administrative reform and the introduction of e-government. He took part in strategic planning and the development of policies in the areas of State administration and e-government, and in drafting programmes in the fields of public-private partnership, local self-government and local administration. From 28 September 2016 to 15 January 2018, when he was appointed chair of the Communications Regulation Commission, Rosen Zhelyazkov headed the State e-Government Agency. On 20 September 2018 he was elected by parliament minister of transport, information technology and communications and held the post until 12 May 2021.

Zhelyazkov was a member of parliament successively from the 45th to the 50th National Assembly, and on 19 April 2023 was elected speaker of the 49th parliament. He is a member of the 51st National Assembly. He was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 16 January 2025 to 19 February 2026.