Bulgaria's parliament speaker resigns to avoid crisis

SOFIA, Bulgaria – Bulgaria's parliament speaker, Dimitar Glavchev, has resigned in an attempt to prevent a parliamentary crisis in the Balkan country which is due to take over the six-month rotating European Union presidency in January.

Glavchev's resignation on Friday came after the main opposition Socialist party threatened to boycott parliament sessions, accusing the speaker of trying to silence the opposition.

Glavchev, a senior member of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov's center-right GERB party, said his resignation was "a moral act" by which he wanted to avoid any negative impact on the upcoming Bulgarian EU presidency.

Borisov, whose coalition government has a tiny majority in parliament, said that "the state and its stability are more important than anything."

Later, the GERB party nominated incumbent deputy chair, Tsveta Karayancheva, for the post. She was approved in a 138-3 vote, with 71 abstentions.