site.btaParliament Elects Two Audit Office Vice Presidents

The National Assembly on Friday elected Margarita Nikolova and Silvia Kadreva as vice presidents of the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO), and Daniela Milusheva as its member. The three took the oath of office at a ceremony in the Assembly.

Each of them was elected for a term of seven years. Nikolova was supported by a vote of 123-76 and no abstentions, Kadreva 123-78 and no abstentions, and Milusheva 141-58 and one abstention.

The MPs rejected Rosina Kirkova’s bid to the BNAO by a vote of 24-100 and 74 abstentions. Bozhidar Bozhanov (Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria, CC-DB) asked for a repeat vote on Kirkova’s nomination, pointing out that she is a professional who is not politically affiliated. The result of the repeat vote was similar: 28-100 and 71 abstentions.

Explaining her vote against the incumbents’ candidates, CC-DB member Lena Borislavova said: “We are witnessing absurd impudence in this chamber. You see, the law says that there should be people in the BNAO leadership who are not political figures, but you [the incumbents] refuse to support the professional candidates because their bids were not coordinated with you. This is impudence, dear colleagues. You should know better than to capture one more regulatory authority politically, in violation of the law.”

During the debate before the vote, Bozhanov said CC-DB would back the BNAO candidates who were nominated by professional organizations, but not the candidates for vice presidents. He argued that if Kadreva became BNAO vice president, the Counter-corruption Commission would lose a member. Bozhanov asked who recommended the candidates for vice presidents and whether Kadreva was vetted at all. “First off, is her master’s diploma a proven fact after all? Because, at the time of her election to the Counter-corruption Commission, she was said to lack the required education. Nor is it certain that she has the required 15-years’ experience,” he said.

Bozhanov threatened that Friday’s election will probably be challenged before the Constitutional Court, not least because Dimitar Glavchev’s position as BNAO president is illegitimate. Glavchev cannot run the BNAO because, while heading a caretaker government as prime minister from April 2024 to August 2024, he doubled as foreign minister, which raised a legal barrier to his return to the BNAO presidency that he held before heading the government - although Kadreva, as a member of the Counter-corruption Commission, has obligingly stated that Glavchev’s BNAO presidency is legitimate, Bozhanov argued.

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov said his parliamentary group would not support any of the candidates for political reasons.