Bulgaria’s unicameral Parliament, the National Assembly, elected Nadezhda Mihailova – a former foreign minister and former leader of right-wing party the Union of Democratic Forces – as Deputy Speaker to replace Filip Dimitrov, who has quit politics.

Elected on the day that Bulgaria’s opposition parties are tabling a motion of no-confidence in the Cabinet on the grounds of mishandling of EU funds, and to coincide with the release of a critical European Commission report on Bulgaria, Mihailova publicly called on the Government to resign.

Mihailova (45) was foreign minister from 1997 until 2001 in the cabinet headed by the then-leader of the UDF, Ivan Kostov.

After the Kostov government was voted out of power in the June 2001 elections and Kostov resigned as UDF leader, Mihailova became leader of the UDF, but failed to revive the party and also failed in a 2003 bid to be elected mayor of Sofia. She was replaced as UDF leader in 2005 by former president Petar Stoyanov.

Mihailova was born in August 1962 in Sofia, graduated from Sofia University in 1985. In 1991 and 1992, she went on to specialise in foreign policy and public relations at the US congress and at Harvard Universtiy.

From 1986 to 1988, she worked as a freelance journalist. She is also a member of the Union of Translators, having published more than 3000 translations of Spanish verse.

Mihailova began her political career with Bulgaria’s Liberal Party. During the electoral campaign of September to November 1991, she headed the UDF press centre and after the elections was appointed spokesperson for the Filip Dimitrov government.

An MP in the 37th National Assembly, Mihailova was a member of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and of the Bulgarian delegation to the Council of Europe.

She was elected deputy chairperson of the UDF in 1995 and re-elected in 1997.

Unlike other parliaments, Bulgaria has several deputy speakers, with each major parliamentary group naming one.