Bulgaria's Interim PM Appears in Court as Applicant

In an unprecedented move, caretaker Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki has appeared before the Supreme Administrative Court over his litigation against former Parliament Speaker Mihail Mikov.

Bliznashki lodged his complaint against Mikov after the latter turned down a proposal for a referendum on election rules submitted by an Initiative Committee.

The committee, headed by the Prime Minister himself, tabled a petition with hundreds of thousands of signatures at the time of the former socialist-liberal government.

However, the trial was adjourned after lawyer Yonko Grozev, who represents the committee, requested that the first sitting be held when the next Parliament, the 43rd National Assembly, has been set up.

Mikov declined to give the Initiative Committee time to correct flaws in their petition, which called for a national poll on three issues: the introduction of a majority system, mandatory voting and e-voting.

Bliznashki attended the courtroom with eleven of the fifteen committee members, including caretaker Deputy Culture Minister Viktor Stoyanov.

Mikov himself, who lost his status of a Parliament Speaker after the Parliament was dissolved on August 6, did not appear.

Lawyer Grozev insisted the lack of a proper defendant was the main problem of the case and reminded Mikov's competences would be passed to his successor in the next National Assembly.

Some law experts say the claim filed by interim PM Bliznashki, a Constitutional Law lecturer, is unacceptable.

Bliznashki for his part maintains he appeared before court as a citizen, even though it was the National Service for Protection (NSO) that preserved order in the courtroom due to his presence their, instead of the judiciary...