Bulgaria's President Appoints New Electoral Body Member

The decision to strengthen the Central Electoral Commission came after a meeting between GERB's leader Boyko Borisov and the DPS's head Lyutvi Mestan, in which the two managed to refrain from the harsh rhetoric. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has appointed former MP Metin Suleymanov from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) member of the Central Electoral Commission.

The lawmaker becomes part of CEC after Parliament approved on Tuesday an amendment to the recently-voted Election Code envisaging that the Commission be strengthened by one member, from 19 to 20.

Parliamentary parties are thus to have a total of 18 representatives in CEC, while two more are from the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NDSV) and the Blue Coalition, as each of them has one MEP in the European Parliament.

New parties to make it into EP after May 25 will also have a representative in the watchdog.

Prior to Wednesday's changes in CEC, heated debates arose in Parliament in March, after lawmakers from different parties were unable to distribute seats in the commission as stipulated by the Election Code.

The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party, as well as the DPS, accused President Plevneliev of granting one more seat to opposition party GERB, which allegedly deprived DPS of one member and gave it only two seats instead of three.

Leaders of the DPS and GERB however settled the issue at a private meeting in a cafe in the city of Kurdzhali, Southern Bulgaria.

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