Maya Manolova resigned as ombudsman to run for mayor of Sofia in local elections

Maya Manolova on September 3 submitted her resignation as Bulgaria’s national Ombudsman, and joined the race for mayor of Sofia in the country’s October 2019 local government elections.

In the motives for the resignation, Manolova said that the legislature had neglected the work of the Ombudsman by deliberately delaying or suspending legislative proposals submitted by her.

She also said that Sofia municipal councillors was ignoring the problems of the city resident and that the promised reforms in key sectors did not take place.

Manolova, who said that over the past four years she had received more than 5000 complaints about violations of human rights, more than 4000 involving property rights and more than 3300 about enforcement proceedings, said promised reforms had not happened, leading to injustice.