The only municipal councillor in Venets who dared to vote against a proposal put forward by mayor Nehriban Ahmedova was subjected to a barrage of attacks during the latest council session. The incident can be seen in a video recording of the Municipal Council meeting on 26 March.
Orhan Kardzhaliev, elected on the ticket of the We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition, is one of the few opposition figures in a local parliament dominated by the party of Delian Peevski, a politician sanctioned for corruption by the US and UK. Of the 17 seats on the Venets municipal council, DPS–New Beginning holds 12, giving it a clear majority. The remaining five seats belong to GERB (four) and PP-DB (one). Following the joint governing arrangement between Boyko Borissov and Peevski under the Zhelyazkov government, the four GERB councillors began voting together with DPS, leaving Kardzhaliev effectively as the only opposition voice on the council.
At the 26 March session, he broke the otherwise unanimous voting pattern by abstaining on one item on the agenda. Kardzhaliev refused to support the sale of a municipal property proposed by mayor Nehriban Ahmedova, prompting an angry reaction from both the mayor and fellow councillors.
After all 16 other councillors voted in favour of the sale and Kardzhaliev alone abstained, councillor Seher Yusif of GERB unexpectedly challenged him.
“Mr Chairman, when voting ‘no’ or ‘abstain’, there must be reasons,” Yusif insisted, demanding that her colleague publicly explain his vote.
What makes the incident particularly striking is that Yusif was chosen by the DPS majority to sit on the Municipal Council’s Ethics Commission. In that role, she should be well aware that councillors cannot be forced to explain how they voted.
Yet that was precisely what happened. The member of the Ethics Commission, the council chairman and the mayor all pressed Kardzhaliev to justify his vote, subjecting him to what amounted to a public “lynching” for having taken a different position.
Prompted by the council chairman, Kardzhaliev said he had abstained because “too many things are being sold” by the municipality.
“What is being sold?” the chairman asked, in a tone that suggested the question itself required an investigation.
Kardzhaliev repeated that too many municipal properties were being sold and that he did not agree with the policy.
“What kind of reason is ‘too much selling’?” mayor Nehriban Ahmedova intervened sharply. “Explain yourself, sir. Why are you against the sale?” she demanded, raising her voice.
She then accused him of effectively obstructing the municipality’s work: “Do you not want the municipality to have revenue and to function?”
The mayor repeatedly stressed that the property in question was currently unused and generated no income, and appeared particularly angered by Kardzhaliev’s reference to the growing number of municipal property sales.
“What kind of reason is that – that there have been too many sales? That is not a reason that satisfies us,” Ahmedova said.
After the meeting, Kardzhaliev said the attacks against him were becoming increasingly frequent.
“It is not the first time I have been forced to explain my vote, but until now it was the council chairman doing it. This is the first time fellow councillors have also pressured me. Apparently, they are trying to pressure me in every possible way,” he said.
Lawyers with experience in local government who were asked to comment described the incident as an abuse of office.
“No municipal councillor is required to explain their vote. The law on local self-government gives councillors the right to vote ‘for’, ‘against’ or ‘abstain’, and no councillor is required to provide reasons in order to justify an action the law expressly allows,” the lawyers said.
“If a council chairman, councillor or mayor tries to force a councillor to explain their vote, that person is abusing their position,” they added.
Asked whether he intended to take action over what happened at the session, Kardzhaliev said he would consult lawyers and was likely to file a complaint over the pressure placed on him because of the way he voted.
What is being sold in Venets municipality?
The sale that triggered the confrontation concerns a 2,566 sq m plot in Venets, classified as private municipal property. A licensed valuer assessed it at €31,500 (BGN 61,608).
The property had not been included in the municipality’s annual programme for the management and disposal of municipal assets for 2026, which was approved at the first council session of the year in January.
The council has now voted to add the property to the programme and approved its sale through a public auction with open bidding.
At the same session, councillors also approved another sale proposed by mayor Nehriban Ahmedova – a municipal property in the village of Borци.
At a February meeting, the council approved the sale of another privately owned municipal property in the village of Izgrev, as well as a plot of privately owned municipal land in the village of Yasenovo.
According to the municipality’s 2025 report on the state of its property holdings, Venets municipality sold 16 properties last year, generating total revenue of €148,000.24 (BGN 289,463.30).
The municipality also generated €166,176.50 (BGN 325,012.99) from property rents and leases of agricultural land.
In 2025, the Venets administration issued a total of 306 municipal property certificates. Of these, 20 concerned newly registered properties and 286 were re-certifications of existing municipal assets.
