August 20 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s central bank governor Ivan Iskrov resigned on Thursday and parliament scrapped his re-election for a second term by the previous legislature, saying the re-elction contravened the law, state-run news agency BTA reported.
The parilament also cancelled the appointment of central bank deputy governor Nikolai Nenovski for the same reason.
The motion to scrap Iskrov's re-election was submitted by the governing centre-right GERB party and was endoresed in a 146/59 vote in the 240-seat chamber, BTA said.
The previous parliament, dominated by a Socialist-led three-party government coalition, re-elected Iskrov for a second six-year term of office in late May, less than two months before the July 5 general election, which the coalition lost to GERB. The move, however, was controversial, because under the Bulgarian National Bank Act a new governor can be elected no earlier than three months before, and no later than two months after the term of office of the incumbent one expires. Iskrov’s term of office will expire on October 10.
When submitting his resignation to parliament, to take effect as of Octover 10, Iskrov said the new legislature has the right to elect a new person to the top post in the central bank, BTA said.
The chairman of the budget and finance commission in parliament Menda Stoyanova said that Iskrov and Nenovski may be nominated for their posts probably next week when the chamber will debate a motion to elect a central bank governor and a deputy governor, BTA reported.