Center-right ruling party GERB has nominated Ana Strashimirova for the post of Chair of the Commission for Protection against Discrimination (CPD).

The move came in response to the alert by Martin Dimitrov, leader of the right-wing Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), that the terms in office of the CPD Chair, Kemal Eyup, and the other members of the watchdog, had expired in April 2011.

Dimitrov inquired whether there had been arrangements between Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the ethic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) to keep Eyup and the other representatives of the former three-way coalition government on their jobs past their terms in office.

The UDF Chair demanded Eyup's resignation and noted that the expired term in office was placing a question mark over the documents issued by the watchdog over the past year.

The leader of the right-wing party cited two decisions of the Constitutional Court from 2005 and 2006 stating that such bodies could not function and make decisions beyond their terms in office.

Iskra Fidosova, Deputy Chair of the parliamentary group of GERB, responded that there had been no arrangements, "least of all secret ones", between the ruling party and DPS.

She added that discussions on the matter had been going on for two months.

Fidosova emphasized the importance of striking a balance between men and women and the different ethnicities in the staff of the Commission.

She suggested that the nominations put forth by parties represented in Parliament would be put to the vote soon after the Easter recess.

Ana Strashimirova, Associate Profesor of Private International Law, is currently a regional representative of the CPD in the Black Sea city of Varna.

The nine-strong staff of the CPD consists of five members elected by Parliament and four nominated by the President.

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