Mayor

The government has made the decision to assume responsibility before Parliament for amending the law on local elections so that the voting system bestows legitimacy on elected mayors, as the current mechanism restricts the right of dissatisfied citizens to replace a mayor who does not his or her job, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Wednesday.

The Government approved the draft on the election of mayors in two rounds, will assume responsibility for this legislative initiative, and will send Parliament a letter on this matter on Monday, Prime Minister's Chancellery head Ionel Danca announced.

Turkey on Nov. 9 appointed an acting mayor for a district in the eastern Van province after its mayor was suspended over suspected links to terrorism. 

On November 3, Bulgaria holds second round of local elections. The same rules for voting apply as in the first round, BNT reported.

The polling stations open at 07.00 and close at 20.00. If there are queues, voting can be extended by an hour.

Second round will be held in 105 municipalities, 441 town halls and 31 regions.

Today, October 27, between 7 am and 8 pm, the first round of the regular mayoral elections are held in Bulgaria in a total of 265 municipalities. 66 political parties, coalitions and independent candidates were registered at the Central Election Commission to take part at the local elections.

The election campaign for mayors and municipal councilors closes today at 24.00.

Saturday is a day for reflection, and on October 27, over 6 million and 200,000 voters will be able to exercise their right to vote.

The total number of candidates for mayors and municipal councilors is close to 36,300. Elections will be held in 265 municipalities in Bulgaria.

The government can appoint trustees to municipalities only if the mayors in question are proven to have links with terrorist organizations, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said, saying that removing the Istanbul and Ankara mayors was out of question. 

Bulgaria's government on August 8 approved a decision on the planning and conduct of the upcoming elections for municipal councilors and mayors on October 27. Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev was assigned to be in charge of the preparation and organization of the local government elections, reports BNT. 

The main conclusions of the activity report of the last year of the General mayor and the General Council of the Bucharest Municipality (CGMB), released on Wednesday by ActiveWatch, CeRe and OPTAR, target the lack of communication with citizens - only 1.6 percent of the draft bills being subject to public debate, the actual vagueness of the activity of the municipal companies or the lack of maj

The Athens municipal council has appointed Giorgos Broulias as the caretaker mayor of the Greek capital after the resignation last week by Giorgos Kaminis so he can run in the European Parliament elections later in the month on the ticket of Movement for Change (KINAL).