Emil Koshlukov’s Mandate as Director of BNT Extended Amidst Legal Challenges

The mandate of Emil Koshlukov as director of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) is being extended, probably by over a year. The reason is that at the last moment Sasho Yovkov – former competitor of Koshlukov for the post and current subordinate, appealed the decision of the Administrative Court of Sofia Region. This was learned by “Dnevnik” from sources from the Council for Electronic Media (CEM).

The failed competition for BNT director turned out to be illegal

With this decision, the failed competition, thanks to which Koshlukov remained at the head of public television despite the expired mandate, was declared illegal. The court ordered that the members of the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) motivate themselves for each of the eight candidates and vote again, but only with “yes” or “against” without “abstentions”.

At the end of June 2022, as a result of the failed procedure, in which none of the eight candidates gathered a majority of three votes in favor of the five members of the regulator, the post was retained by Emil Koshlukov despite his expired mandate. Thus, Koshlukov continues to manage the state television, and CEM does not announce a new competition because of the court case.

“Dnevnik” was unable to contact either Sasho Yovkov or his lawyer. During the trial in the Administrative Court of Sofia-region, Yovkov was the reason for the repeated postponement of the trial, with the defense citing various reasons.