site.btaUPDATED Ombudsman Has No Place in Government, Says Velislava Delcheva

"The Ombudsman has no place in the executive branch," Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva told reporters here on Thursday after her meeting with President Iliana Iotova as part of the constitutional procedure for appointing a caretaker government. 

Under the Constitution, the Ombudsman is among the possible options for caretaker prime minister. The Constitution stipulates that a caretaker prime minister shall be appointed from among the National Assembly Chair, the Governor or a Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, the President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) or their deputy, and the Ombudsman or a Deputy Ombudsman. 

“The Ombudsman, as an independent authority whose role is to defend citizens’ rights when the state acts or fails to act to their detriment, has no place in the executive branch,” Delcheva said. In her view, this has also been confirmed by the past few months since she was elected public defender. During the same period last year, there were three times fewer complaints from citizens than in the period when there has been an ombudsman, Delcheva noted. According to her, this means that it is extremely important for Bulgarian citizens to have a person actively performing this role. “After a year, I do not think it would be appropriate to once again abandon Bulgarian citizens and leave them without a defender of their rights,” she added.

There are European and international standards that also require the ombudsman to remain as independent as possible from the other branches of government, Delcheva noted.

Velislava Delcheva explained that she had presented her position to President Iotova, namely that the ombudsman cannot perform the duties of a caretaker prime minister and then return to the post of ombudsman to defend citizens’ rights.

On Friday, Iotova will receive BNAO President Dimitar Glavchev and BNAO Vice Presidents Margarita Nikolova and Silvia Kadreva.

On Wednesday, the head of State held talks with Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Governor Dimitar Radev and his deputies Petar Chobanov, Andrey Gurov and Radoslav Milenkov. Only Gurov said he is ready to serve as caretaker prime minister.

Meeting with the President on Tuesday, Parliament Chair Raya Nazaryan declined the post. 

Under Article 99, paragraph 5 of the Constitution, after failure to reach agreement on forming a government, the President, following consultations with the parliamentary groups and on the proposal of the candidate for caretaker prime minister, appoints a caretaker government and schedules new parliamentary elections within two months.

In late 2025, then-President Rumen Radev held consultations with parliamentary groups following the resignation of the Rosen Zhelyazkov Cabinet. On January 16, Radev said Bulgaria was heading toward snap parliamentary elections after the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms received and returned the third mandate to form a government. Earlier, the first two exploratory mandates - handed to GERB-UDF and Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria - had also been returned.