site.btaCC-DB's Bozhanov Calls on GERB to Back Petition for Anti-Corruption Commission Head's Resignation

It is time for everyone in GERB to sign the petition for the resignation of Anton Slavchev as head of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Yes, Bulgaria Co-chair Bozhidar Bozhanov wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. The MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) was reacting to a post by GERB leader Boyko Borissov earlier in the day, in which Borissov says his party has lost all trust in the Anti-Corruption Commission and he believes that it should not exist. 

"I hear that Borissov is renouncing the Anti-Corruption Commission, which is once again trying to undermine the Mayor of Varna through the Municipal Election Commission in Varna," Bozhanov wrote. 

On December 18, the Continue the Change party said that the Anti-Corruption Commission had requested data from the Central Election Commission (CEC) on the recent leave periods of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev. "This is despite the fact that leave periods are entirely beyond the remit of the Anti-Corruption Commission. It has no authority to make decisions on leave or to instruct CEC or the Municipal Election Commission," Continue the Change said in a statement.

Kotsev was arrested on July 8 in a corruption probe and remained in remand for about five months - until his release on a BGN 200,000 bail by a Varna court on November 27. During his time in remand, he had to take paid and unpaid leave to justify his absence, and appointed a deputy to sit in for him. The Varna Municipal Election Commission took up the case of his absence after receiving alerts from voters. On November 23, the Commission postponed its decision on whether Mayor Kotsev should be removed from office over his long absence. On December 22, GERB leader Borissov urged the party's representatives on the Commission not to take part in any potential attempts to terminate Kotsev's mandate, because GERB's name "should not be involved in any kind of political schemes aimed at changing the people's majoritarian choice."

Kotsev has denied any wrongdoing. His Continue the Change party insist that his arrest is part of a campaign by the Establishment targeting the opposition.