The President-elect Rosen Plevneliev and Margarita Popova solemnly swear the presidential oath of office

Today, the President-elect Rosen Plevneliev and Margarita Popova swore a solemn presidential oath of office before the National Assembly (NA). The inauguration ceremony lasted less than an hour.

Thus, for three days (until Sunday, when Rosen Plevneliev will officially take over the presidential post from Georgi Parvanov) Bulgaria will have two acting Presidents, which is not unprecedented. The same occurred when Zhelev handed over his presidential powers to Petar Stoyanov and 5 years later, when Georgi Parvanov succeeded Peter Stoyanov.

Among the first official guests in the parliamentary hall was Patriarch Maxim of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, who patiently waited for the start of the inauguration ceremony.

As early as the start of the first solemn speech of the President-elect Plevneliev, seven MPs from the Ataka party rose up in the parliamentary hall jointly with their leader Volen Siderov. They held protest banners with the inscription: "Plevneliev - ''elected'' by fraud". The parliamentary tellers waited for NA Chairwoman, Tsetska Tsacheva to react, as well as Plevneliev, but fortunately there was no response. The rebellious lawmakers holding protest posters remained standing during the entire inauguration ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by the currently acting President Georgi Parvanov and his predecessors Petar Stoyanov and Zhelyu Zhelev, as well as by the Prime Minister and the majority of GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) ministers, senior magistrates, directors of institutions and the media along with heads of major religious denominations, diplomats and former prime ministers.

Besides, the First Lady Yuliyana Plevnelieva was absent, as well as the Vice President, Angel Marin (as he had previously announced) because of the recent scandal with the Prime Minister as a result of which Marin returned the Order of "Stara Planina" (Balkan Mountain). Besides, MRF's (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) leader Ahmed Dogan and the Ministers of Energy Traicho Traikov, of Environment and Water, Nona Karadzhova and of Agriculture and Food, Miroslav Naydenov also failed to attend the ceremony. Traikov and Naydenov were absent due to their previously scheduled official visits abroad.

The first part of the inauguration ceremony, starting from the opening of the session until the swearing of the oath by Plevneliev and Popova, lasted exactly 10 minutes. After signing the oath declaration, they both kissed the Holy Cross, which was placed beside the Holy Bible and received blessings from Patriarch Maxim. Afterwards, all attendants listened to the hymns of Bulgaria and the EU - including the 97-year-old Patriarch Maxim.

In his 36-minute official speech, Plevneliev stated that he will not participate in intrigues and thanked his predecessors Zhelyu Zhelev, Petar Stoyanov and Georgi Parvanov, while pointing out that the privilege of being a President is not connected to the high post itself but with the pursuit of an essential cause.

Прочети цялата новина

Свързани новини: