Yane Yanev’s right-wing opposition party, the Order, Lawfulness, Justice (OLJ) has demanded legislative changes so that people who have pending pre-trial proceedings for premeditated offences cannot stand for Parliament, Bulgaria news agency BTA said on June 18 2009.
 
Currently, candidates need only not to have previous convictions if they run for Parliament. Running for Parliament also provides immunity from prosecution for the duration of the elections campaign when all trial procedures must be put on hold and defendants set free to campaign.
 
In its June 18 declaration, OLJ said that the election campaign for Parliament, which started on June 14 2009, showed that this provision was a threat to Bulgaria’s democratic foundations and the role of the state as a guarantor of lawfulness and justice.
 
"OLJ believes that Bulgarian politicians should ask support from the European Commission in dealing with problems they have been unable to address on their own," the declaration said.
 
OLJ’s statement could be taken as a reference to the case of the so-called "Galevi brothers" as businessmen Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov are commonly referred to by the media. They were set free on June 16 2009 from Sofia central prison on 50 000 leva bail each by the court after they both registered as candidates for Parliament ahead of the July 5 2009 elections.
 
Both were apprehended in December 2008 and have been under arrest ever since.
 
Galev and Hristov are accused of organising and controlling a criminal group which had allegedly used fear, physical force and extortion in its activities. Prosecutors filed the indictment against them on June 11 2009.

Plamen Galev will run as a majority candidate from his home town of Doupnitsa. An initiative committee collected more than 14 000 signatures. At least 10 000 signatures are needed to run for MP in any of Bulgaria's 31 majoritarian precincts.

Angel Hristov will run as a majority candidate from the town of Pernik on the ticket of the little-known Liberal Alternative and Peace party.

He is also the party candidate in the Kyustendil electoral region.