Transition of power and initial Civil Service changes

The Glavchev Caretaker Government was officially sworn in on 9 April 2024, in the presence of the National Assembly.^[2]

In the days following its investiture, Caretaker Ministers made a number of changes within the civil service. Caretaker Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova removed the incumbent head of the Customs Agency, Petya Bankova, who was detained in relation to alleged participation in an organised criminal group, and replaced her with Georgi Dimov.^[3] The head of the Financial Inspection, Ilka Dimova-Mazgaleva, was similarly replaced with Georgi Yordanov.^[4]

Kalin Stoyanov, Caretaker Minister of Interior, requested the removal of Secretary to the Ministry, Zhivko Kotsev.^[5] He later announced that he did not intend to appoint a replacement before the elections, allowing deputy Secretary Dimitar Kangaldzhiev to assume the role as Acting Secretary.^[6]

The cabinet also saw a number of changes within the deputy ministerial staff.^[7] One notable deputy minister appointment was that of former Minister of E-Government and Digitalisation, Alexander Yolovski, as Deputy Minister of E-Government.^[8]

On the 26th of April, the government announced a change in a number of oblast executives, including the Executive of Sofia.^[9]

By the end of April, Bulgarian media outlet Dnevnik reported that 44 changes had been made by the Glavchev government within the civil service.^[10]

Cabinet reshuffle

Only a week after the appointment of the cabinet, Prime Minister Glavchev requested the removal of two Ministers: the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stefan Dimitrov, and the Minister of Foods and Agriculture, Kiril Vutev, both of whom he accused of not properly fulfilling their roles.^[11] In their place, he proposed GERB MP, Daniel Mitov, for Minister of Foreign Affairs, and head of the State Fund "Agriculture", Georgi Tahov, for Minister of Agriculture.

The cabinet reshuffle led to BSP and Revival submitting a Vote of No Confidence against the Glavchev government, which a number of legal experts and politicians considered unconstitutional.^[12] The vote of no confidence was, however, not voted on by the National Assembly before it went on vacation for the campaign period.

On the 19th of April, Mitov officially confirmed that he refused the position of Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs.^[13]

On the 20th of April, Glavchev announced that he had proposed himself for the position of Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs.^[14]

On the 22nd of April, Radev officially signed the changes in the Caretaker Cabinet, replacing Stefan Dimitrov with Dimitar Glavchev and Kiril Vutev with Georgi Tahov.^[15]

Organization of the elections

As a Caretaker Cabinet, one of the tasks was to organise the 2024 Bulgarian parliamentary election and the 2024 European Parliament election in Bulgaria.

In the opening session of the cabinet, PM Dimitar Glavchev underlined that the organisation of "free and fair elections" was the main task of his government.^[16]

On the 12th of April, the cabinet met with representatives of the Central Electoral Commission to discuss the organisation of elections, promising full support.^[17] During this meeting, it was announced Minister of Transport and Communication, Georgi Gvozdeykov, would be responsible for inter-institutional communication on the topic of elections.^[18]

On the 29th of April, Glavchev and other cabinet minister participated in the randomised picking of machine voting installations which were to be inspected.^[19]

During events surrounding Europe Day (9th of May), Glavchev announced there would likely be a delay in the announcement of results on election day due to the larger quantity of ballots to be counted, and urged parties to refrain from speculation about this delay on election day.^[20]

Minister of the Interior, Kalin Stoyanov, confirmed on the same day that the Ministry had received the first reports about alleged vote buying, as well as other violations of the electoral code.^[21]

On the 11th of May, Caretaker Minister of E-Government, Valentin Mundrov, confirmed that there would be "no issues with machine voting" during the upcoming elections and that the process of verifying the machine software before the elections was set to begin on the day.^[22]

Construction of a Childrens-Health Center in Sofia

On the 30th of April, 2024, the Glavchev cabinet approved plans for the construction of a private medical facility in Sofia, specializing in the medical needs of children.^[23]

The decision was opposed by most parliamentary-represented parties and President Radev, with critics arguing that childrens healthcare was a state competency.^[24] The backlash led Glavchev to announce that the project would not be implemented.

On the 7th of May, the Glavchev Government confirmed that it would go ahead with the construction of a state childrens health hospital in Sofia, with area at which the hospital was to be built being scheduled for demolition.^[25]