site.btaCivil Organizations Urge Parliament to Elect Public Authorities with Expired Term in Office

Civil society organizations demanded that the National Assembly immediately start procedures to elect new managements of public authorities whose terms in office have expired. In an open letter addressed to Parliament’s leadership and floor leaders of parties in Parliament, circulated by the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives (BILI) on Tuesday, the signatories urged for the adoption of a timetable for the procedures, starting with the state bodies whose term in office has expired the earliest. The initiators ask for the introduction of election procedures lasting a minimum of 3 months from nomination to election, thus giving give professional communities, media, and civil society the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the nominations.

The letter was signed by BILI, Anti-Corruption Fund, Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria, Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Institute for Market Economics, Institute for Public Environment Development, Access to Information Programme, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Center for Regulatory Impact Assessment.

The civil society organizations urge the National Assembly to prepare analyses of the sectors the relevant authorities oversee, as well as analyses of the authorities' annual reports, and to introduce a mandatory requirement for nominees to submit both written and public concepts of the authority's future governance.

The NGOs insist that a standing parliamentary committee on the election of public authorities be established. They also demand for the establishment of a citizens' advisory board to give an opinion on the professional and ethical qualities of the nominees.

They also insist that the media, civil society organizations and academics should have the opportunity to ask written and oral questions during the hearings of the candidates, as well as a thorough check of their professional and ethical qualities, including by requesting information from other institutions and organizations.