site.btaUPDATED Socialists’ National Council Approves Rotating Parliamentary Leadership

The National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has officially approved a proposal for a rotational chairmanship of the National Assembly. The news was reported by BSP Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov following the party’s National Council plenum on Sunday which discussed the rotation of the parliament chairperson.

A total of 100 members voted in favour of the proposal, three abstained, and two were against.

Zafirov added that the BSP insists the principle of rotation be explicitly included in the agreement on joint governance, along with a comprehensive review of the policies laid out in it. According to him, the decision was supported as an expression of political responsibility and consistency in upholding the commitments undertaken to ensure stable governance.

Zafirov said a meeting of the coalition council of BSP–United Left, held earlier in the week, unanimously approved the decision on the rotation and on continuing the coalition’s participation in the joint governance of the country. “The BSP remains consistent in its efforts to ensure stability and to protect Bulgarian citizens,” the party leader added.

During the forthcoming discussions on the drafting and adoption of the 2026 state budget, the BSP will insist on increasing the incomes of all working people, maintaining the “Swiss rule” for adjusting pensions, and supporting young families and children, Zafirov said. He added that the party will present its partners in the coalition government with its vision for a fairer tax and social security system, one that will ease the burden on working people and low-income families while ensuring sustainable revenues for the state.

The BSP National Council has tasked its Finance and Economy Committee with developing a framework for tax and social security reforms under the motto “Justice, Statehood, Development,” Zafirov said.

He added that the BSP expects the government to take all necessary measures to prevent a fuel market crisis and to safeguard national security amid the US sanctions on Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.

With these decisions, he concluded, the BSP reaffirms its role as a guarantor of national justice and responsible governance.

On October 21, after a session of the Joint Governance Council of the ruling three-party coalition, it became known that GERB and There Is Such a People had raised the issue of introducing a rotating parliamentary chairmanship as part of the shared governance model between the coalition partners.

Speaking in the southwestern town of Pernik earlier on Sunday, the current National Assembly Chair, Nataliya Kiselova, commented on the matter: “I represent one of the parties [BSP] that made the decision to take part in the government. Any questions that arise are first discussed by the collective bodies of the BSP, then by the coalition council [of BSP-United Left], and finally by the Joint Governance Council. Whatever decisions are made will be implemented,” Kiselova said.

Asked whether she would remain an MP if replaced as Chair of the National Assembly, she replied that she sees no reason not to do so.