site.btaRegional Governor of Sofia Dismisses Calls for Resignation

Sofia Regional Governor Vyara Todeva Friday dismissed calls by some political parties for her resignation after she reversed the election of Municipal Council (MC) committee leaders and of deputy chairpersons of the Municipal Council. „Anyone can ask for my resignation,” she said at a news conference on Friday. She sees no reason to come down and said that it is entirely within the powers of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel to ask her to resign.

Todeva argues that an extraordinary meeting of Sofia Municipal Council on February 8 that elected the MC chair and committee chairs was not convoked according to the rules, which is why the votes would have tob e retaken. More specifically, Todeva says that materials relevant to the election of commission chairs and Municipal Council deputy chairs were not provided to the municipal councillors and that they were not published on the website of the Municipal Council.

She said she is determined to send back any MC decision that is not taken according tot he rules.

Calls for Todeva‘s resignation came from GERB-UDF, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and There Is Such a People.

Todeva said Friday: "It is in the interest of the citizens of Sofia that all decisions be legitimate and that they be taken according to the relevant procedure prescribed in the law." 

Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev commented in a Facebook post that the decision of the regional governor is based on the established laws and regulations. "If the municipal councilors do not respect the law, how can they protect the interests of the citizens of Sofia?", he asked.