Bulgaria's New Electoral Commission Holds 1st Sitting

Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) will hold its first sitting at 1.30 pm on Friday.

At 12 noon, the new panel of the CEC will be presented to the media and NGOs, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

The new CEC is chaired by Ivilina Aleksieva and will start work with 18, instead of 19 members, with one of the two deputy chair seats still vacant.

The new CEC panel brings together six representatives of center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria), five of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), one from liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), one from nationalist party Ataka, one from National Movement for Stability and Progress (NDSV) and one from the right-wing Blue Coalition.

Under the requirements of the Election Code, two of the CEC members (NDSV, Blue Coalition) have been nominated by parties which are not represented in Parliament but have MEP seats.

A total of 7 of the 18 CEC members have already been part of the commission.

During its sitting on Friday, the CEC, which has a five-year term in office, will distribute the functions among its members and will name at least two spokespersons.

The sittings of the CEC will be streamed live on its website.

In order to be able to cope with the work by the MEP elections on May 25, the commission will work in weekends and during the Easter holidays.