Kanev

Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), who had gone in opposition to the coalition government, are expected to decide at a national conference on Sunday whether the party will remain part of junior coalition partner the Reformist Bloc (RB), bTV broadcaster has reported.

The only candidate for chairperson of Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (KZK), Rosen Zhelyazkov, withdrew his candidacy on Wednesday.

Zhelyazkov said that he did not want to compete against himself and by withdrawing his candidacy, he wanted to eliminate all suspicions on the predetermined outcome of the selection procedure.

A committee of lawmakers is to hold a hearing of candidates to take over as members of the Commission for the Protection of Competition, Bulgaria's anti-monopoly watchdog.

Parliament is to carry through the procedure despite concerns raised Radan Kanev, the leader of DSB party, and subsequently by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov that the election might be flawed.

Bulgaria will be presented as an year-round tourist destination during hearings in the lower chamber of Russian parliament on Thursday, the Ministry of Tourism announced in a press release.

Lawmakers of the Reformist Bloc (RB) coalition have proposed the introduction of online voting in Bulgaria from 2018 - the year of the next general election.

The RB brings together several parties from the ruling coalition, but also includes the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) of Radan Kanev, who withdrew their support from the government, switching to opposition.

The cabinet of Bulgaria has refused to urge the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), the high decisonmaking body of the judiciary, to step down, despite criticism against it in the EU Commission's report published Wednesday.

Governing parties demanded a day earlier that the VSS dissolve itself, amid a number of scandals involving its members over the past days.

Radan Kanev, the leader of Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), which is one of the parties constituting the Reformist Bloc (RB), declared the alliance as exhausted.

Kanev said this at a meeting with the leaders of local structures of DSB in Sofia on Saturday.

The leader of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party, Radan Kanev, called on Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov to order an immediate investigation into the tender for the construction of Hemus motorway.

At a press conference on Monday, Kanev demanded the investigation to be performed by a publicly known prosecutor, daily Dnevnik quotes him as saying.

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)'s leader Mihail Mikov said on Saturday the socialists moght propose to other parties in Parliament a motion of no confidence against the government of Boyko Borisov.

In an interview with private national bTV station, he said energy and healthcare were two sectors where developments required such a motion.

Junior coalition partner Reformist Bloc (RB) has announced it wants to negotiate an update of the coalition agreement it sealed with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's GERB party last year.

A "review and assessment" of results achieved by the GERB-RB coalition since the autumn of 2014 will also be demanded.