Tsetska Tsacheva Dangovska ( bg, Цецка Цачева Данговска; born 24 May 1958) is a Bulgarian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

GERB GERB ( bg, ГЕРБ, translation=coat of arms, acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) is a conservative, populist political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria between 2009 and 2021. History GERB is headed by fo ...

and a

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Un ...

. She was the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria from 4 May 2017 to 5 April 2019. She had previously held the position of Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Bulgaria on two occasions. Tsetska Tsacheva is the first woman to ever chair the National Assembly of Bulgaria since its establishment in 1878.

Background

Tsacheva was born in Dragana, Ugarchin Municipality,

Lovech Province Lovech Province ( bg, Област Ловеч, translit=Oblast Lovech, former name Lovech okrug) is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city - Lovech. As of December 2 ...

. She finished the

Pleven Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...

High School of Mathematics in 1976 and graduated in law from

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

. A member of the Pleven Bar Association, she practised as a lawyer and was subsequently a head legal advisor to the Pleven Municipality for seven and a half years until 2007. Tsacheva is married to the architect Rumen Dangovski and has a son, also named Rumen, who is a college student studying Math at the

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

in the United States.

Political career

Until the democratic changes in 1989, Tsacheva was a member of the

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...

, though she quit promptly after the fall of the

People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...

. In 2007, she joined the Pleven Municipal Council as a member of

Boyko Borisov Boyko Metodiev Borisov ( bg, Бойко Методиев Борисов, ; born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as the prime minister of Bulgaria from 2009 to 2013, 2014 to 2017, and 2017 to 2021, making him Bulgaria's List of ...

's party GERB. Tsacheva was GERB's candidate for mayor of Pleven in 2007, but she only came third as Nayden Zelenogorski of the Union of the Democratic Forces won his third term in the first round. Tsacheva was also behind the

Bulgarian Socialist Party The Bulgarian Socialist Party ( bg, Българска социалистическа партия, translit=Balgarska sotsialisticheska partiya, BSP), also known as The Centenarian ( bg, Столетницата, links=no, translit=Stoletnitsat ...

's Vasil Antonov in that election. In the 2009 Bulgarian parliamentary election, Tsacheva headed GERB's voting list in

Pleven Province Pleven Province ( bg, Област Плевен or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is ...

and was also the party's proportional candidate for that constituency. She won the proportional elections in Pleven Province with 36.92%, or 54,880 votes. After her party's decisive electoral victory, she was selected as GERB's candidate for Chairwoman of the

National Assembly of Bulgaria The National Assembly ( bg, Народно събрание, Narodno sabranie) is the unicameral parliament and legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria. The National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution. Ordin ...

and was unanimously elected to that post by 227 votes out of 240 and no votes against. Tsacheva was considered a member of the reform-minded group around Deputy Prime Minister

Simeon Djankov Simeon Dyankov ( bg, Симеон Дянков, also Djankov; born July 13, 1970) is a Bulgarian economist. From 2009 to 2013, he was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria in the government of Boyko Borisov. Prior to h ...

. She ensured the passage of several legislative packages to reduce the burden on business and avoid a meltdown of the banking system.

Presidential candidate

Tsacheva was nominated to be her party's candidate for the

2016 Presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kirib ...

. Plamen Manushev was chosen to be the vice-presidential candidate. She lost the run-off to

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev ( bg, Румен Георгиев Радев ; born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who is the current president of Bulgaria since 22 January 2017. Radev previously served as higher comman ...

, former air force commander. As a reaction, prime minister

resigned.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsacheva, Tsetska 1958 births Chairpersons of the National Assembly of Bulgaria Bulgarian jurists Bulgarian women in politics Candidates for President of Bulgaria People from Lovech Province Living people Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Female justice ministers Justice ministers of Bulgaria