site.btaUPDATED Sofia Municipal Council Fails to Elect Chair after Two Rounds of Voting and Two Attempts
The Sofia Municipal Council Monday failed to elect a chair after two rounds of voting. That was the second attempt and it repeated the results from the first one on November 13.
The runoff was between the candidate of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and Save Sofia, Boris Bonev, and Diana Tonova of BSP for Bulgaria. The vote was 23-9 for Bonev.
The next sitting of the municipal councilors is scheduled for November 30.
Forty-four members of the 61-seat Municipal Council voted in the Monday runoff. Twelve of the ballots were invalid.
The front-running candidate in the race, Boris Bonev, commented for the press that in the coming days his group "will try to find out what the real demands of the other political forces are" so that the Municipal Council can start working. He also said that no one in the other groups have raised the issue of changing his nomination as a condition for support.
He sees a positive change as all groups in the Municipal Council are now willing to go to talks. Invitations for talks to the other political forces will be sent the soonest possible. "It has become clear that there is a big overlap among all political forces on the level of policies but clearly that is not enough," he said.
The talks will be on specific policies and policy proposals; on the chairperson's seat; and the distribution of the seats in the committees.
He said that "there is a wish among the representatives of other groups now as well, to form the committees".
He also said that even though no chairperson was elected, "work for Sofia does not stop, the mayor and borough mayors are working and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria have prepared reports for the Municipal Council".
He was adamant that his group is not going to negotiate with GERB for a coalition but only for policies and priorities.
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