Council for Electronic Media failed to elect Director General of the Bulgarian National Television

The Council for Electronic Media (CEM) failed to elect a Director General of the Bulgarian National Television after three consecutive votes. None of the candidates managed to get the necessary three votes from the Council members.

This means that the incumbent Director General, Emil Koshlukov, remains acting until a new procedure is announced.

"This is a precedent, but the law allows us to close the procedure. I thank my colleagues for demonstrating their independent position and proving that CEM will remain an independent regulator. It is nonsense doing the same actions and expecting a different result. We must approach this with principles and continuity. At the very next meeting we will announce a new procedure for election of Director General," said Sonia Momchilova, the chairperson of CEM.

The candidates for the post were eight: Sasho Dikov, Irina Velichkova, Sasho Yovkov, Vasilena Matakeva, Emil Koshlukov, Venelin Petkov, Krasimir Angelov and Svetlana Bozhilova. During the past two days, CEM heard their concepts for the development of the public service broadcaster.

Council for Electronic Media concluded the interviews with the candidates for Director General of public service broadcaster BNT

Council for Electronic Media holds hearings with the candidates for BNT Director General (update)

At the first round of the voting today, June 29, the members of the regulator outlined the problems and challenges facing BNT related to funding, accountability and transparency, modernization, attracting audiences, and the need for reforms. Three candidates each got one vote in favour:

• Incumbent Director General, Emil Koshlukov, received 1 vote in favour and 4 against.
• Venelin Petkov received 1 vote in favour and 4 abstentions.
• Irina Velichkova got 1 vote for, 2 against and 2 abstentions.

An hour later, CEM met for a second round of voting, at which Koshlukov again got one vote, Petkov two and Sasho Dikov two.

• Emil Koshlukov: 1 vote for and 4 against
• Venelin Petkov: 2 votes for, 3 abstentions
• Sasho Dikov: 2 votes for, 3 abstentions

A third round of voting was held an hour later. The results of the second round were repeated.

After the third round of voting failed to produce a result, Prolet Velkova commented:

"I am not proud of this. We are not doing a good service to CEM, BNT and the public interest. Today I recalled a rumour that Director General will not be elected because it is better Koshlukov to stay in place. I was outraged by that, but here we are - we see it happening. This is highly symptomatic and leads me to a question about how autonomous our votes are. There was a request from intellectuals - a petition of thousands - demanding that we should not allow Emil Koshlukov to take part in the procedure, and we said that we should act on our conscience and we said that we should not allow him. We decided to consult with lawyers and they advised us not to take this move because he was going to appeal. I draw attention to the fact that we were willing to consider that option and those reasons were that we could have voted the necessary caution not to allow it. He is going to run the television until the next competition, and perhaps even further. Elections are coming up, the political pressure is great. I would like to express my sympathy, Mrs Naplatanova."

- Gabriela Naplatanova: Thank you for your sympathy. I stand by my position.

- Sonia Momchilova - Chairperson of the CEM: You withdrew the request for not admitting Emil Koshlukov even then. We are not here to do a favour. I do not approve of the Pilatov approach of choosing someone because there must be a choice. You, Mrs Velkova, tried to put pressure.

- Galina Georgieva: The new members of CEM failed to elect Director General.

- Sonia Momchilova: I am proud of that.

"All candidates fell short on some of the criteria- professional and organizational competence. For me the most suitable would be Venelin Petkov. He showed how he would be an engine of change, to stop the dependence on the executive. I have known him for 22 years. I am obliged to abstain in this choice", said Gabriela Naplatanova, member of CEM.

"I have come to the decision that among all the candidates, Venelin Petkov can meet these challenges - bold goals BNT to be a driver in the media environment. To make BNT a leader in information and films, to attract the young audience, to create a management and organizational structure. To end the overlapping of functions. To build a news team, to enhance investigative journalism," said Prolet Velkova, member of CEM.

"I see that we have two proposals so far. We are five members, it is important to elect a director general - that means compromise and dialogue. We need dialogue," said Simona Veleva, member of CEM.

"The hero who will wake up the sleeping giant - we have not seen him in these two days. We have to be delicate and careful when we make a choice of such a person these days, because times are complicated. CEM owes a lot to you, the viewers, too. I believe we will see it, if not soon, at least in a future procedure. Abstention is the more honourable choice," said Sonia Momchilova, chairwoman of CEM.

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