site.btaFormer Caretaker Minister for Fair Elections Tzitzelkov: I Will Not Quit CEC Public Council

Former caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Fair Elections Stoil Tzitzelkov said on Sunday he will not resign from the Public Council with the Central Election Commission (CEC), speaking on bTV.

Tzitzelkov, who stepped down as deputy prime minister on Friday, said there was no legal or moral reason for him not to work on elections because he had been rehabilitated.

“These lawyers who can’t manage elections should at least understand this: there is absolutely no reason I shouldn’t work on elections,” he said.

In recent days, political groups circulated claims that Tzitzelkov had been arrested for marijuana use and for driving under the influence. He said that in 2011 he was caught driving under the influence, later received a suspended sentence and was subsequently rehabilitated. He apologized and said he was ashamed of the incident. On the marijuana allegation, he said that many years ago he and a friend were accused after a marijuana cigarette was found on the ground next to them, and that it was later established the quantity was 0.55 g.

Tzitzelkov also addressed a third allegation linked to an incident involving a woman in Ghana during elections there. He said this was in 2020, when strict security protocols applied to members of a European Commission mission tasked with safeguarding the integrity of the vote, to ensure foreign observers would not bring the coronavirus into the country. He said he inadvertently violated the rules after the mission ended and was given a “cooling-off period” applying only to fieldwork.

“I could continue to serve as an expert, and I did. I can continue to work for different institutions. There was no other person, no woman or girl,” he said, adding that he currently works for the European Commission as well.

“This should not be the focus of discussion. What should be discussed is my professional competence and what I can deliver,” Tzitzelkov said. He added that rehabilitation means he has no criminal record and his certificate of no criminal record is clean, but that he is being publicly smeared by people who, in his words, have “70 lawsuits on hold” against them and shout “Barcelona” and “Dwarfs”.

Tzitzelkov was referring to Barcelonagate, a nickname for a Bulgarian money-laundering investigation in which the name of GERB leader and former prime minister Boyko Borissov has been mentioned, and to the Eight Dwarfs case, shorthand for a high-profile scandal involving allegations of influence peddling in the judiciary and the takeover of businesses.