The fifth consecutive issue of the CSD Brief is a follow-up of the CSD Policy Brief No. 3 of May 2004 and examines the recent developments in the introduction of the ombudsman institution on national and local level in Bulgaria. The brief presents the significant progress in the establishment of the local public mediators (municipal ombudsmen) throughout the country in contrast with the second failed attempt of the parliament to elect the national ombudsman. It contains also a critical review of the legal framework of the local public mediators and underlines once again the need of timely election of the national ombudsman through an open, transparent and non-partisan procedure with the active involvement of the civil society.
