In his new book The Big Parliamentary Circus. Chronicle of the Scandals in the National Assembly literary historian and writer Rossen Tahov traces curious and downright ridiculous scenes that have occurred in Bulgarian Parliament.

"A book in which there is no censorship", the author describes the volume. "I have collected the materials from the past 30 years and I wrote it in three years. The book is based on the shorthand records of the National Assembly. It includes memories of contemporaries, historiographical studies and legal documents. Every word is documentary and is verified. The parliament which is the highest state institution, instead of being "the holy smithery of laws" has been turned into a fairground spectacle. The MPs pour water on each other, take out guns at each other, clutch at their lapels, and talk nonsense. This is clearly seen by the Bulgarian people who have elected these deputies and they see how this country is governed."

Rossen Tahov has collected the most spectacular scandals that occurred in the Bulgarian Parliament since the Liberation in 1878 until today:

"The executioner of Vassil Levski, Ivancho Hadzhipenchovich, who was one of the persons who signed the death sentence of the Apostle of Freedom, was elected to the Constituent Assembly which was summoned to adopt the first Bulgarian Constitution of Tarnovo in 1879. His signature stands at two places in Bulgarian history - under the death sentence of Levski and under the Tarnovo Constitution. Historically, our parliamentarianism is nurtured in this way."

Regarding present-day MPs Rossen Tahov writes: "For the modern MPs it is harmful to live in close quarters. The limited space suppresses their brain cells that are called to work for the good of the fatherland. "Give the bird the sky so it could fly!", the ancients used to say. MPs need the expanse of the heavens where their patriotic thoughts might flap their wings. For this reason, the Bulgarian MPs do not dwell in one-bedroom apartments but rather in spacious flats."

Each of the 45 essays in the volume has something peculiar, Rossen Tahov continues:

"Perhaps the most striking is the case with the voting on the loan with which we entered the First World War. In 1914, the opposition refused to vote on the fateful loan of half a billion leva. Prime Minister Vassil Radoslavov entered the plenary hall and took out a revolver with six bullets. In the drum there was one bullet for each opposition parliamentary group. So under the barrel of a gun, MPs voted on the loan. Let's not forget that also today there are MPs who walk with a pistol under their belt. The leader of Ataka, Volen Siderov, is not hiding this fact. There is a Bulgarian MP who posed naked in Paris and circulated his picture round the plenary benches. Valko Neychov is the father of political nudism. "What a shame!" exclaimed Konstantin Irechek when he saw this picture in 1881. In 1901, the National Assembly examined the case of a brothel in the capital. The citadel of sin entered the agenda of parliament. Deputies discovered monstrous abuses during the construction of the pavilions. They can be summarized under the umbrella of what we today call a conflict of interest."

Corruption against which today's politicians promise ruthless struggle also has historical roots.

"Corruption thrived in Bulgaria immediately after the Liberation", Rossen Tahov continues. "The reason is that our public administration is the successor of the Turkish administration from the time of the Ottoman Domination and the Russian administration from the temporary occupation, which were notorious for their venality. One of them was making profits from a factory for alcohol in Knyajevo, the other from the concession of the Rouschouk-Varna railway. Konstantin Irechek, for example, told the following case. The first Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Todor Burmov, received from Emperor Alexander II a diamond ring for his services. He built a house and asked the Russian consulate to replace the prize with banknotes. The Prime Minister took 400 paper rubles, keeping the ring that he separately traded for 67 pounds. "It is an example of completely unprecedented filth and disgrace!" eyewitness Konstantin Irechek exclaimed indignantly. Since time immemorial this has been the case," said the writer.

The Big Parliamentary Circus is a chronicle of the scandals in the Bulgarian National Assembly. "It describes only the most outrageous events because if you include the small ones, it will become a multipart series," Rossen Tahov concludes.

English Rossitsa Petcova