Betina Zhoteva, the spokeswoman for Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry, will be appointed to the Council for Electronic Media (CEM), the Presidency of Bulgaria has said.

Zhoteva was nominated by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, who appoints several members of the media regulator alongside Parliament.

She is to take over from Anyuta Asenova, who was a member of CEM appointed by Plevneliev's predecessor Georgi Parvanov in 2008. Asenova's mandate expired at the end of 2014, but she remained in office after that, as the Bulgarian head of state hadn't raised a nomination.

Plevneliev is quoted by his press office as saying that Zhoteva's "rich experience acquired in her 25-year-old practice" with media and communication is the reason for his choice, along with her "authority" and "civic position".

Prior to her work at the Foreign Ministry, Zhoteva represented as a spokeswoman Bulgaria's permanent mission to the EU in Brussels and later headed the Communications and Protocol department at the Finance Ministry, which at that time was headed by Simeon Djankov (under GERB's previous term).

Under the 2013 interim cabinet she was transferred to the Economy and Energy Ministry (now divided into Economy and Energy ministries). After being dismissed by the next government, she took over as media adviser to Ekaterina Zaharieva, who was deputy PM in another interim cabinet in 2014.

In the coming year CEM will be tasked with organizing and carrying out the election of the new heads at both Bulgarian public broadcasters, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).