Tsetska Tsacheva

Tsetska Tsacheva Цецка Цачева
Chair of the National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 October 2014
Preceded by	Mihail Mikov
In office 14 July 2009 – 13 March 2013
Preceded by	Georgi Pirinski
Succeeded by	Mihail Mikov
Personal details
Born	May 24, 1958 Dragana, Bulgaria
Political party	Bulgarian Communist Party (Before 1989) Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (2006–present)
Alma mater	Sofia University
Religion	Bulgarian Orthodoxy

Tsetska Tsacheva (Bulgarian: Цецка Цачева; born 24 May 1958) is a Bulgarian jurist and GERB politician who is the current Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, having assumed office on 27 October 2014. She had previously held this position during the 41st National Assembly.^[1] Tsetska Tsacheva is the first woman to ever chair the National Assembly of Bulgaria since its establishment in 1878.^[2][3]

Background

Tsacheva was born in the village of Dragana in Ugarchin Municipality, Lovech Province. She finished the Pleven High School of Mathematics in 1976 and graduated in law from Sofia University.^[3]

A member of the Pleven Bar Association, she practised as a lawyer and was subsequently a head legal advisor to the Pleven Municipality for seven and a half years until 2007.^[3]

Tsacheva is married to the architect Rumen Dangovski and has a son, also named Rumen, who is a college student studying Math at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology in the United States.^[4][5]

Political career

Until the democratic changes in 1989, Tsacheva was a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party, though she quit promptly after the fall of the People's Republic of Bulgaria.^[5] In 2007, she joined the Pleven Municipal Council as a member of Boyko Borisov's party GERB.^[6][7] Tsacheva was GERB's candidate for mayor of Pleven in 2007, but she only came third as Nayden Zelenogorski of the Union of the Democratic Forces won his third term in the first round. Tsacheva was also behind the Bulgarian Socialist Party's Vasil Antonov in that election.^[5]

In the 2009 Bulgarian parliamentary election, Tsacheva headed GERB's voting list in Pleven Province and was also the party's proportional candidate for that constituency. She won the proportional elections in Pleven Province with 36.92%, or 54,880 votes.^[8] After her party's decisive electoral victory, she was selected as GERB's candidate for Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Bulgaria and was unanimously elected to that post by 227 votes out of 240 and no votes against.^[2]

Presidential candidate

Tsacheva was nominated to be her party's candidate for the 2016 Presidential election. Plamen Manushev was chosen to be the vice-presidential candidate. She lost the run-off to Rumen Radev, former air force commander. As a reaction, prime minister Boyko Borisov resigned.^[9]

References

1. "41st National Assembly: Tsetska Tsacheva Dangovska". National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
2. "Цецка Цачева — първата жена председател на НС" (in Bulgarian). Lex.bg. 2009-07-14. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
3. "Lawyer Tsetska Tsacheva elected Speaker of the 41st National Assembly". National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. 2009-07-14. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
4. "Asteroid to Be Named after Son of Bulgarian Ex Parliament Speaker". www.novinite.com.
5. Божинова, Буряна (2009-07-13). "Острият ум на Цачева опровергава вицовете за блондинки" (in Bulgarian). 24 часа. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
6. "Народни представители от ГЕРБ Плевен: Цецка Цачева Данговска" (in Bulgarian). ГЕРБ. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
7. "Коя е Цецка Цачева" (in Bulgarian). Vesti.bg. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
8. "Окончателни резултати от избирателен район Плевен 15" (in Bulgarian). Централна избирателна комисия. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
9. "Pro-Russia Rumen Radev wins Bulgarian presidency". Al Jazeera. 14 November 2016.