site.btaFourth Court Panel Upholds Lecheva's Election as Bulgarian Olympic Committee President

A fourth court panel has upheld the legitimacy of the March 19, 2025 election of Vesela Lecheva as President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) and of the BOC Executive Bureau.

By judgment dated March 9, 2026, the Sofia City Court (SCC) dismissed as unfounded the actions brought by Zhivko Vangelov challenging the resolutions of the BOC General Assembly by which Lecheva and a new Executive Bureau and Audit Council of the Committee were elected.

The plaintiff claimed that the assembly was convened and held in violation of the law and the BOC Statute because not all members were notified of it by post or email, the 20-day time limit for nominating a candidate for president was not complied with, representatives lacking a valid entitlement to represent their organizations attended the assembly, irregularities were committed upon delegates' legitimation, and the secret ballot was incorrectly conducted by putting the lineup of the collective bodies to the vote en bloc.

In its reasons, the Court argued that the notice of general assembly was duly published in the Commercial Register and Register of Non-Profit Legal Persons and was posted on the notice board. As 83 out of a total of 86 members were present, the requisite quorum and majorities were available. The delegates proved their representation entitlement by producing due powers or attorney or governing bodies' decisions, and the alleged omissions did not result in a distortion of the election result.

The voting en bloc does not constitute a violation because the Statute does not require the members of the Executive Bureau and the Audit Board to be put to the vote separately, the Court argued, adding that no nominations were put forward by any other members, including the plaintiff.

The Sofia City Court concluded that the defects alleged in the statement of action resulting in legal non-conformity of the BOC General Assembly resolutions at issue were not proven and, therefore, the actions brought seeking an invalidation of these resolutions merit to be dismissed as unfounded.

Eight actions have been brought by federations and individual members against the election of Lecheva and the Executive Bureau. So far, four of these claims have been dismissed by court as unfounded: the ones filed by the Bulgarian Confederation of Kickboxing and Muay Thai, the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation, the Bulgarian Badminton Federation, and Zhivko Vangelov. One action, initiated by Belcho Goranov, Plamen Krastev, Atanas Tarev and Hristo Markov, has been granted, and the court has annulled Lecheva's election. Three actions in this subject-matter remain pending.

The newly elected BOC leadership, headed by Lecheva, has not yet been registered in the Commercial Register due to ongoing court appeals. On May 17, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it had provisionally recognized the results of the BOC Elective General Assembly on March 19, 2025, confirming that Lecheva and her team are the only individuals authorized to represent the BOC to the IOC, within the Olympic Movement, and at all IOC-recognized events and Games.