Mihail Mikov

Mihail Raykov Mikov (Bulgarian: Михаил Райков Миков; born 16

June 1960) is a Bulgarian politician who was Chairman of the Mihail Mikov
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) from 2014 to 2016. He is a
parliamentarian with six consecutive terms as a deputy in the National
Assembly.[1] His career in the legislature culminated in his election as
Chairman of the 42nd National Assembly on May 21, 2013.[2] Mikov
was Minister of Interior from 24 April 2008 to 29 July 2009 in Sergei
Stanishev's government.[3] Currently he is the leader of the
Parliamentary Group of BSP Left Bulgaria in the 43rd National
Assembly, the coalition led by the socialist party. Mihail Mikov was
elected as Chairman of the BSP on 27 July 2014, succeeding Sergei
Stanishev.[4] He won a run-off against outgoing Economy and
Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev with a final tally of 377-333.[5]

On May 8, 2016, Mikov was defeated 395-349 in a runoff vote by

Korneliya Ninova for the leadership of the party.[6]

Contents
Early life and education Leader of the Socialist Party
In office
Political career
27 July 2014 – 8 May 2016
Socialist
Lawmaker Preceded by Sergei Stanishev
Minister of Interior Succeeded by Korneliya Ninova
Chairman of National Assembly Chair of the National Assembly
Initiatives In office
Positions and controversies 21 May 2013 – 6 August 2014
Chairman of BSP Preceded by Tsetska Tsacheva
Elections 2014 Succeeded by Tsetska Tsacheva
43rd National Assembly
Minister of Interior
References In office
24 April 2008 – 27 July 2009
Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev
Early life and education
Preceded by Rumen Petkov
Mikov was born in the Bulgarian town of Kula, Vidin Province, on Succeeded by Tsvetan Tsvetanov
June 16, 1960.[1] He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Sofia Personal details
University where he later taught criminal law. Mikov has postgraduate
specializations in Human rights, NGO taxation, Anticorruption Born 16 June 1960
Practices. He is fluent in French, Russian and Serbian. Mikov is Kula, Bulgaria
married with two children. Political party Communist Party
(Before 1990)
 Socialist Party
Political career
(1990–present)

Website Official website (htt

Socialist p://mmikov.com)

Mihail Mikov became a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party and after the democratic changes in
Bulgaria in 1989 – a member of its successor, the Bulgarian Socialist Party. In the last parliamentary elections,
held on October 5, 2014, BSP scored its lowest results since the restoration of the multiparty system. The new
leadership under Mikov has stated the following goals:

Consolidating BSP[7]
Modernizing the party
Upholding the core values of socialism and social democracy
Protecting the interests of the majority of Bulgarian citizens

Lawmaker

The leader of the Bulgarian socialists is acknowledged for his career as a jurist and a lawmaker. As an
academic he consulted the authors of many bills and laws adopted by parliaments starting from the Grand
National Assembly, including the present Bulgarian Constitution. He was elected for his first term in 1997 and
became deputy from Vidin. In parliament he initiated constitutional and criminal law changes including such
restricting the immunity of lawmakers, judges and prosecutors, creating the institution of Ombudsman and
improving the accountability of the higher judicial bodies before the national legislature. Other reforms he co-
authored lead to the abolition of the death penalty and criminalization of computer crimes.

Minister of Interior

Mihail Mikov was appointed Minister of interior in the BSP lead government of Sergei Stanishev and
occupied that post from April 2008 to July 2009.[3] In that executive role he undertook several reforms
including the creation of a special department to fight organized crime. Mikov revealed the staff of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs for the first time since the start of the democratic changes in Bulgaria – a move that many
NGOs insisted on and which is a normal practice across the EU. Among his priorities were:

Restructuring GDBOP, the directorate responsible for the battle against organized crime.
Creation of General Directorate “Pre-trial Proceedings”.
Reduction the staff of several other directorates – “Security Police”, “Criminal Police”, “Border
Police”, “Fire Department”.

Chairman of National Assembly

Mikov was elected Chairman of the 42nd National Assembly on May 21, 2013 and occupied that post until
August 5, 2014.[2]

Initiatives
Mihail Mikov became a cofounder of the Parliamentary Assembly of the South-East European
Cooperation Process and worked for increased cooperation in the region through participation
in the Danube Initiative, Black Sea Economic Initiative and other important processes.[8]
 The Chairman of the National Assembly presided over
festivities for the 135th anniversary of the Constituent
Assembly and the adoption of the Tarnovo Constitution.
Mikov patroned the events marking the 125th anniversary
of the death of Antim I, Chairman of the Constituent
Assembly and the Ist Grand National Assembly of
Bulgaria.
Mihail Mikov as Chairman of the
42nd National Assembly - 2013.
Positions and controversies

During the 2013–14 Bulgarian protests against the Oresharski cabinet, provoked by the nomination of Delyan
Peevski for chairman of the State Agency for National Security, Mihail Mikov made a special address to the
nation on June 26, 2013 in which he criticized mass media for increasing tension by their covering of the
antigovernment protests. Mikov's remarks provoked a strong reaction from the press and the electronic media.
Many of them signed a declaration in which they rejected any political and institutional attempts to influence
freedom of speech and their editorial independence.

In October 2013 students from the Sofia University met Mikov in his cabinet after protesting inside the
parliament's building.[9] Later they quoted him as saying that he “doesn’t care for those protesting” against the
government. The chairmen of the National Assembly told them that he had been elected by voters for several
terms and that in parliament deputies represent the sovereign as a whole and not a certain number of people.

In an interview around the premature end of his term as head of Bulgarian Parliament Mihail Mikov stated that
he does not consider the mandate of the government and the ruling majority to be a failure. “That was a
parliament of the necessary social decisions, of increased parliamentary control over the government… a
parliament of the possible majority, born by the elections in May 2013”, he said quoted by the daily “Pressa”.

Chairman of BSP

Mihail Mikov was elected Chairman of BSP on July 27, 2014,

succeeding Sergei Stanishev who lead the socialists for 13 years.[10]
He won a run-off against outgoing Economy and Energy Minister
Dragomir Stoynev with a final tally of 377-333. There were 16
invalid ballots and 36 delegates decided not to vote.[5]

Elections 2014
Mihail Mikov, elected Chairman of The snap parliamentary elections on October 5, 2014 left the
BSP - July 27, 2014.
Bulgarian Socialist Party, and its coalition – BSP Left Bulgaria, with
its weakest results since the start of the democratic changes in
Bulgaria. BSP won 15,4% in a vote marked by low voters’ turnout –
just above 48%. [11] At a pressconference after polls were closed Mihail Mikov admitted election defeat and
pointed out that the party that won the most votes – the center-right GERB, now had the responsibility to form
government.

On several rounds of consultations on the new government BSP highlighted its differences with GERB and
announced it was to remain in opposition to the right lead majority in the new parliament[12] and the future
Ministerial Council.[13] Although different opinions were heard, including those of some leading
representatives of the Socialist Party, Mikov and the majority of the party's governing bodies maintained that
opposing the center-right government was the right move.
43rd National Assembly

On October 5, 2014 Mihail Mikov was elected to the 43rd National Assembly from two election districts – in
Sofia, and in Vidin, where he traditionally runs for office. The leader of the Socialist party chose to become
deputy from the capital. On October 27, 2014 he was elected leader of the Parliamentary Group of BSP Left
Bulgaria.

References
1. "Who is Who: Mihail Mikov, New Chair of Bulgarian Socialist Party" (http://www.novinite.com/ar
ticles/162297/Who+is+Who%3A+Mihail+Mikov%2C+New+Chair+of+Bulgarian+Socialist+Part
y). Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
2. "National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria - Presiding Body" (http://www.parliament.bg/en/
presidingbody).
3. "Republic of Bulgaria Council of Ministers" (http://old.government.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=
001&p=0152&n=11&g=).
4. "Михаил Миков е новият председател на БСП" (http://btvnews.bg/article/bulgaria/politika/mih
ail-mikov-e-noviyat-predsedatel-na-bsp.html).
5. "Mihail Mikov Elected Chair of Bulgarian Socialist Party" (http://www.novinite.com/articles/1622
96/Mihail+Mikov+Elected+Chair+of+Bulgarian+Socialist+Party). Novinite.com. Sofia News
Agency. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
6. "Who Is Who: Korneliya Ninova, New Head of Bulgaria's Socialists" (https://www.novinite.com/
articles/174377/Who+Is+Who:+Korneliya+Ninova,+New+Head+of+Bulgaria's+Socialists).
novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
7. "Bulgarian Socialist Party to Announce Top-Level Reshuffle" (http://www.novinite.com/articles/1
64618/Bulgarian+Socialist+Party+to+Announce+Top-Level+Reshuffle). www.novinite.com.
Novinite.com. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
8. "Serbia, Bulgaria "wish to intensify cooperation" - speakers" (http://www.b92.net/eng/news/polit
ics.php?yyyy=2013&mm=07&dd=23&nav_id=87046). www.b92.net. b92. Retrieved 23 July
2013.
9. "Bulgarian Students to MPs: 'Aren't You Ashamed?' " (http://www.novinite.com/articles/154710/
Bulgarian+Students+to+MPs%3A+%27Aren%27t+You+Ashamed%3F%27).
www.novinite.com. Novinite.com. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
10. "Mihail Mikov is the new leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party" (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0150402112212/http://bnt.bg/en_news/mihail-mikov-is-the-new-leader-of-the-bulgarian-socialis
t-party). www.bnt.bg. Bulgarian National Television. Archived from the original (http://bnt.bg/en_
news/mihail-mikov-is-the-new-leader-of-the-bulgarian-socialist-party) on 2 April 2015.
Retrieved 28 July 2014.
11. "Bulgaria's 2014 parliamentary election: CEC announces final results" (http://sofiaglobe.com/2
014/10/09/bulgarias-2014-parliamentary-election-cec-announces-final-results/). Sofia Globe.
Retrieved 9 October 2014.
12. "New Parliament to Hold Its First Sitting on October 27" (http://www.bta.bg/en/c/DF/id/933383).
www.bta.bg. BTA. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
13. "Bulgaria's Socialists to Be Fierce Opposition in Parliament – BSP Chair" (http://www.novinite.
com/articles/164602/Bulgaria%27s+Socialists+to+Be+Fierce+Opposition+in+Parliament+-+BS
P+Chair). www.novinite.com. Novinite.com. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
 Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Interior Succeeded by
Rumen Petkov 2008–2009 Tsvetan Tsvetanov
Preceded by Chair of the National Assembly Succeeded by
Tsetska Tsacheva 2013–2014 Tsetska Tsacheva

Party political offices

Preceded by Leader of the Socialist Party Succeeded by
Sergei Stanishev 2014–2016 Korneliya Ninova

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mihail_Mikov&oldid=948868648"

This page was last edited on 3 April 2020, at 14:13 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.