GERB deputy Vezhdi Rashidov
announced that he is resigning as a deputy and leaving politics. He announced this himself in a message to the media, quoted by BNR.
The former speaker of the National Assembly did not specify the reason for his decision, but most likely it was provoked by the scandal that broke out after his speech about women who were victims of violence.
Speaking to parliament deputy speakers Rositsa Kirova and Nikola Minchev during one of the breaks in the debate on changes to the Domestic Violence Protection Act on Monday (August 7), he said: “All the s**ts woke up to their senses after 15 years of being raped, like that American director they did to a monkey.”
A strong reaction from GERB followed, with the party’s parliamentary group dissociating itself from his speech and asking him to resign as chairman of the Committee on Culture and Media in the National Assembly and a member of the Executive Committee of GERB. Minutes after their request, Rashidov resigned from both positions, but remained an MP.
This provoked the largest non-governmental organization that supports the cause of women – “Bulgarian Fund for Women”, which demanded the resignation of Rashidov as a deputy. According to them, people with similar views have no place in the National Assembly.
With his resignation, Rashidov leaves both the parliamentary committee on culture and media, as well as two others – on foreign policy and on human rights. Today, a protest has been announced in front of the National Assembly to demand his resignation as an MP. Who can take the place of Vezhdi Rashidov in the parliament.
Vezhdi Rashidov was Minister of Culture in the first (2009 – 2013) and second (2014 – 2017) governments of Boyko Borisov. He was elected seven times as an MP, and was also the chairman of the previous National Assembly.