Sofia mayor Boyko Borissov refused on February 5 to dismiss one councilor elected from Borissov's Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, who was proven to have collaborated with the communist-era secret police.

Konstantin Tilev, now in his second term as Sofia councilor, has collaborated with both the political police and intelligence arms of the secret service, the commission for declassification of secret service archives has said.

But Borissov said he had no plans to ask Tilev to resign from the municipal council, having already carried out a background check before the local elections in October 2007.

"I've talked to him and he told me what he used to do. I checked the information and decided he would remain on our list," Borissov said, as quoted by mediapool.bg.

Bulgaria's two biggest rightist parties, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), have tabled a motion in the Sofia municipal council earlier this week, asking for parties to sack their councilors if they were proven collaborators of the secret police, but received no support from other parties.

Four more Sofia councilors, two apiece from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP), have worked for the secret service, according to the commission for declassification of secret service archives, but their respective parties said they don't plan to sack councilors either, mediapool.bg reported.