site.btaContinue the Change Lawmakers File Corruption Complaint Against Former Varna Mayor Ivan Portnih

Members of Parliament from Continue the Change (CC), Lena Borislavova and Bogdan Bogdanov, have officially submitted a complaint to the Counter-Corruption Commission against former Varna Mayor Ivan Portnih, the party’s press centre said on Thursday.

The complaint is based on public allegations made on July 24, by Ruslan Toshev, the long-time head of GERB’s structure in Varna and a former MP in the 43rd and 44th National Assemblies. In an interview with Club Z, Toshev claimed that Portnih manipulated preferential voting in his own favour, as well as for other GERB candidates, by “stealing” preferences from Toshev and redistributing them, the announcement stated.

“While the incumbent mayor from Continue the Change is in jail without evidence, a GERB mayor walks free and no one is questioning him, even though an inside man, a founder and former MP of the party, has disclosed information about violations of the law. Blagomir Kotsev is in prison because of the words of Plamenka [Dimitrova], who was already flagged for public procurement fraud by the National Audit Office back in 2019. Meanwhile, no one is investigating the claims of election violations and manipulation against Ivan Portnih,” Lena Borislavova said while submitting the complaint.

Borislavova also questioned whether Petar Koev and Stoyan Petkov, the director and deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission’s anti-corruption directorate, will be impartial enough to investigate this mayor, even though he is not from CC. Koev and Petkov are the candidates from the ruling GERB, There Is Such a People, and the Bulgarian Socialist Party for the new “independent” leadership of the commission, which is to be elected by Parliament, Borislavova added. According to CC, these same individuals are directing actions against their party without evidence, pressuring witnesses to commit perjury in order to fabricate proof.

“It’s been a week since the allegations about Portnih were made public, and there’s been no response from the Prosecutor’s Office or any investigative body. That’s why today we filed a complaint with the CCC, calling for a thorough investigation to clarify the facts,” MP Bogdan Bogdanov said. He stressed that such serious accusations from a former GERB insider cannot be ignored and urged the commission to act in accordance with the law.

In the Club Z interview, Toshev stated: “Ivan ‘took’ [preferences] from here and there, through the [polling] commissions the same way that party votes are stolen. The Constitutional Court’s ruling on the last parliamentary elections is indicative. The manipulations that were deliberately done became apparent.” Toshev further alleged that Portnih applied pressure on local mayors during campaigns, urging them to redirect votes toward specific candidates. He cited Constitutional Court decisions that confirm serious violations during the last parliamentary elections, including ballot tampering by polling commission members, according to Continue the Change.

Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev was arrested on July 8 after a corruption tipoff by a failed public procurement tenderer to the Counter-Corruption Commission. Along with municipal councilors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolai Stefanov, he has been charged with participation in an organized criminal group. The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office accused the group of engaging in coordinated criminal activities including abuse of office, bribery, and money laundering. Kotsev, Kateliev, and Stefanov are also charged with attempting to extort a sum equivalent to 15% excluding VAT of 1,523,446 BGN, of the value of a public procurement contract for the delivery of ready meals to schools and kindergartens. On July 18, the Sofia Appellate Court ruled that Kotsev would remain in custody.