site.btaEx-Parliament Chair Sees His Ouster as Part of Months-Long Political Process

Rosen Zhelyazkov believes that his removal as chair of the National Assembly on Thursday was part of a political process which had been gaining momentum for a few months until the government collapsed, making it necessary to hold early parliamentary elections. On Friday evening, Zhelyazkov told the Panorama weekly political talk show on Bulgarian National Television that his dismissal was "an unnecessary demonstration". He said: "To the opposition, including the BSP, the TISP and Vazrazhdane, it may have been an instance of normal political conduct, but for our former partners, it was something between retaliation and an urge for punishment. The political consequences will be felt in the election campaign, and perhaps later."

Discussing the dismissal of Stanimir Mihailov as head of the National Health Insurance Fund, which was one of the reasons supporting the call for his own ouster, Zhelyazkov said he read the verbatim record of the parliamentary sitting at which Mihailov's fate was sealed, but did not see any violation of the rules.

Zhelyazkov was also asked to comment on his GERB party leader Boyko Borissov's remark that the National Assembly chair's ouster was forcible and eliminated all possibilities for talks. Zhelyazkov said: "You should never say 'never' in politics for a very simple reason. Opinion polls show that six political entities will likely enter Parliament after the elections. We know who will be number one, five and six, but we do not know who will be number two, three and four. We will again have a situation where two parties will not be enough to form a cabinet. The formation of the government will again involve talks, and these talks will rest on values."

He fears that the election campaign may burn bridges between political players and draw the country into another cycle of election after election. He doubts that the campaign will be clean.