The municipal councilors jumped on the regional governor, supported Georgi Manev’s declaration of his resignation : Black Sea Lighthouse

35 municipal councilors agreed with him

Silvia Shaterova

The second regular meeting of the Municipal Council in Burgas was used by Georgi Manev to propose to his colleagues a declaration demanding that Prime Minister Academician Nikolay Denkov, Speaker of the National Assembly Rosen Zhelyazokv and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabral be released from the post of regional governor – Plamen Yanev.

The reasons are that during the first session he allowed himself to make political statements. Manev and the municipal councilors feel offended because they were elected and he was appointed. In his speech, Yanev then told them that a red light should be on, that they were elected with 40% voter turnout and this is not good for democracy.

“Municipal councilors are elected after fair elections. The civil servant turned the tape back in 2007, and why not in 1988, pointing out that 96,000 people voted then, and now 40% fewer. The implication is clear, the Municipal Council – the most important body of local self-government – has lost the trust of the voters, and the decline has been since 2007. The next statement was more scandalous, Yanev stated that the citizens did not see the point of voting. He tainted this important moment. “How dare a high-ranking civil servant, whom no one voted for, appointed to monitor legality, attack elected municipal officials,” the declaration reads. With it, Georgi Manev went around all the groups and asked for the signatures of his colleagues.

A total of 35 councilors agreed with the thesis and signed the declaration, among them are representatives of all political forces in the local parliament except SEC and Vazrazhdane. The last to sign was the Chairman of the Municipal Council – Mikhail Khadzhiyanev.

“This is a fact,” said Ivan Ivanov from SEC.

“Everyone votes according to their conscience with a view to whether the declaration is reasonable. I think there were disturbing words in the speech of the regional governor. The first session is a session for a new beginning, to support and launch a new mandate of the municipal councilors without making qualifications and evaluations and introducing this style”, is the opinion of Veselin Prenerov from GERB.

Low voter turnout is a disease of our entire society, he said in response to a question from “Black Sea Lighthouse” whether local politicians still find themselves to blame for the low voter turnout. “This conversation is coming in society, we are a function of this low voter turnout activity. We have to think because the representativeness of the political class is more or less shaken and this public conversation is yet to come,” he added.

According to the procedure, the regional governor is an appointed person and the decision on his release rests with the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister.