site.btaParliament to Elect Bulgaria’s Ombudsman

The National Assembly will elect Bulgaria’s ombudsman, according to Parliament’s agenda on Friday. There are six candidates for the position: Anton Stankov, nominated by the “Bulgarian School of Politics Dimitry Panitza” association; Velislava Delcheva, nominated by MPs from GERB-UDF; Dzhema Grozdanova, nominated by the National Patients’ Organization; Dimitar Yotov, nominated by the Bulgarian National Association “Active Consumers”; Maria Mateva, nominated by the Bulgarian Red Cross; former ombudsman Maya Manolova, nominated by 23 branch and civil organizations.

The procedural rules for electing an ombudsman were adopted by Parliament on February 13, with a deadline for nominations of 28 days. Nominations for ombudsman could be made by members of Parliament, parliamentary groups, and non-profit legal entities of public benefit. 

Prior to this, MPs are expected to vote on draft decisions on personnel changes in the composition of the standing committees on demographic policy, energy, European affairs and control of European funds, and the committee on labour and social policy. The changes in the composition were proposed by Nikolay Denkov, co-floor leader of Continuing the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, in connection with the swearing-in of new members of Parliament. 

The MPs will also consider on first reading changes to the Penal Procedure Code, amendments to the Criminal Code, and the ratification of international health standards, submitted by the Council of Ministers. 

During Question Time, ministers Georgi Georgiev, Silvi Kirilov, Marian Bachev, Georgi Tahov, Manol Genov, Borislav Gutsanov, and Daniel Mitov are expected to answer questions from MPs.