Ognyan Gerdzhikov, 55, professor of civil and commercial law, was elected chairman of the 39th National Assembly on Thursday. He will head the fifth parliament since the beginning of democratic changes in 1989. Gerdzhikov got 213 votes in the 240-seat parliament. This will be Gerdzhikov`s first term as MP. He entered politics and parliament as a member of the Simeon II National Movement. Gerdzhikov describes the legislation on which the 39th National Assembly will have to build as `not good` and predicts that a lot of work will have to be done to introduce legislative amendments. Parliament should prioritise tax laws and the laws on privatisation, investments, and banks` bankruptcy, he says. He sees a need for urgent changes in the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, as these two laws are outdated. They must be amended parallel to the Judiciary Act, the law on administration of punishments and other laws related to the judiciary in order to ensure `inherent compatibility of legislation`.

WHO`S WHO: Ognyan Gerdzhikov studied law and currently heads the Sofia University Department of Civil Law Studies. He has been deputy rector of the university, specialized in Vienna and Hamburg, lectured in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, and published papers in Bulgarian, Russian, German and English. He chairs the Court of Arbitration with the Bulgarian Industrial Association.

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