Sonia Momchilova is the new Chairperson of the Council for Electronic Media

Sonia Momchilova is the new Chairperson of the Council for Electronic Media (CEM). She was elected on April 21, with 4 votes in favour and 1 against. The term of office is for one year.

The situation in which the election took place is unprecedented, as the election of a new chairperson happens before the new members of the regulator are elected. The only vote against was that of Rosita Elenova.

There were two nominations for a new chair of CEM: Galina Georgieva and Sonya Momchilova. The choice was only between the two of them, as the term of office of the other three CEM members expires next week.

However, what is unprecedented in this case is that next month the media regulator will have three new members. They will not participate in the election of the chairperson as the chairperson has already been elected.

The reason for this is that Betina Zhoteva's term as a member of CEM will expire before the new members of the regulator are elected and it will not be possible for her to remain in the post of chairperson.

Rozita Elenkova, whose term is also expiring, said that the quick election of a new chairperson was a surprise for her, and that under such circumstances an acting chairperson could have been appointed to give the new members a chance to choose their own chairperson and participate in the election process themselves.

The new chair of the media regulator said that when the new members are elected, she would put her chairmanship to a vote so that they could also participate in the election.

Later today, MPs will hear nominations for new members of CEM, in the Parliament’s Culture and Media Committee.

"We Continue the Change" party propose one of them to be Simona Veleva. The nomination of "Democratic Bulgaria" is Prolet Velkova, while "Vazrazhdane" proposes Todor Belenski.

Only two of these names will enter as members of CEM from the parliamentary quota. The President should also nominate a member of the regulator, but it is not yet known who that would be. The election of the new members will take place in early May.