Bulgaria's Academy of Sciences (BAS) has elected the director of its Institute of Mathematics and Informatics to be its new president.

Three candidates presented their programs on Monday, but Acad. Stefan Dodunekov, director of the Academy's Institute for Mathematics and Informatics, turned out to be preferred over Corr. Member Prof. DBs Andon Kosev and Academician Prof. D.Phil Alexander Petrov, head of the Institute of Solid State Physics.

Dodunekov will replace current president Nikola Sabotinov on June 19.

The candidates for the post signed declarations in accordance stating that they were not employees of the former Communist State Security and the intelligence services of the Bulgarian army.

The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences has struggled to cope with severe underfunding over the past years.

In 2010 and 2011, the Academy suffered a 40% budget cut, to be followed by an attempt on behalf of the centrist-right GERB cabinet to dismantle the institution.

BAS is to swallow another BGN 5 M (9%) cut for 2012, in spite of the fact that Djankov and Minister of Education Sergey Ignatov had, during the first half of 2011, expressed satisfaction at the internal reforms implemented by the Academy.

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