site.btaParliamentary Groups Nominate Central Election Commission Members

113 POLITICS - PARLIAMENT - CEC - NOMINATIONS-ampl.1

Parliamentary Groups
Nominate Central Election Commission
Members

Sofia, March 7 (BTA) - The parliamentary parties nominated their candidates for the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Thursday. The new CEC will be made up of seven GERB representatives, six of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), two each of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and the United Patriots, and one of Volya. The Reformist Bloc has one MEP and is entitled to one representative.

The election of a new CEC was the subject of a controversy between the ruling GERB, which was against replacing the experienced CEC members before the May 26 European elections in Bulgaria, and the opposition BSP, which argued that the law must be observed as the present CEC's term expires on March 23. The latter view was upheld by the President.

On February 18, Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov said the CEC members would be replaced before the European elections.

GERB named Supreme Administrative Court Judge Stefka Stoeva as CEC Chairperson, current members Georgi Bahanov, Yordanka Gancheva and Maria Boikinova, and new nominees Alexander Andreev (a CEC Spokesperson from the BSP quota) and lawyer Miroslav Djerov. GERB will also back Dimiter Dimitrov, nominated by the Bulgarian Political Science Association.

The BSP nominated current CEC member Tanya Tsaneva, "who will ensure continuity and prevent the chaos some people threatened as justification for not complying with the law," said BSP for Bulgaria Deputy Floor Leader Kroum Zarkov. The other nominees are Nikolai Nikolov, Constitutional Court jurisconsult and former CEC member Silva Dyukendjieva, political analyst Silvia Stoicheva, ICT specialist Emil Voinov and election expert Tsvetanka Georgieva, who has over 16 years' experience in the BSP's Elections Department. Zarkov said he would announce the nominations in plenary as required but the MPs of BSP for Bulgaria would not attend the sitting. They walked out of Parliament in protest at Election Code amendments in February.

The United Patriots nominated civil law expert Tanya Yosifova as CEC Chairperson and current CEC member Boicho Arnaudov.

The MRF's nominees are current members Sevinch Solakova and
Erhan Chaushev, who have long legal and administrative
experience. Current member Metin Suleyman will be dropped from
the Commission as the party quota is down by one member.

The Reformist Bloc and Volya have nominated their current
representatives, Kristina Tsankova-Stefanova and Ivailo Ivkov.
IG/DD