Caretaker Government Appoints Latest Regional Governors Across Bulgaria

Sofia, Bulgaria – February 23, 2026 – The caretaker government of Bulgaria has replaced all 28 regional governors, appointing a new set of leaders to oversee the country’s administrative regions. The appointments, announced today by the Council of Ministers, represent a comprehensive overhaul of regional leadership.

New Regional Governors

Here is a list of the newly appointed regional governors, as confirmed by the Council of Ministers:

• Blagoevgrad: Nikolay Kukolev
• Burgas: Dobromir Gyulev
• Varna: Atanas Mihov
• Veliko Tarnovo: Valentin Mihaylov
• Vidin: Ivan Ivanov
• Vratsa: Stefan Stefanov
• Gabrovo: Asen Daskalov
• Dobrich: Asen Atanasov
• Kardzhali: Zdravko Todorov
• Kyustendil: Kristian Ivanchov
• Lovech: Polya Varbanova
• Montana: Mihail Ivanov
• Pazardzhik: Lyubomir Gechev
• Pernik: Georgi Nedev
• Pleven: Alexander Yotkov
• Plovdiv: Vladislav Popov
• Ruse: Orlin Penkov
• Razgrad: Ognyan Obreshkov
• Silistra: Dimitar Karadzhov
• Sliven: Marincho Hristov
• Smolyan: Zarko Marinov
• Sofia City: Vyara Todeva
• Sofia Region: Ivan Dimitrov
• Stara Zagora: Iva Radeva
• Targovishte: Radoslav Boychev
• Haskovo: Ginka Raycheva
• Shumen: Marin Marinov
• Yambol: Bilyana Kavaldzhieva-Dimitrova

Background

The caretaker cabinet, led by Andrey Gyurov, initiated the replacement of all regional governors today. This move follows the government’s withdrawal of a proposal to appoint Denyo Denev as head of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) due to ongoing protests [nova.bg].

Orlin Penkov, the new regional governor of Ruse region, brings over 20 years of experience in management, business development, and sales to his role [fakti.bg].

Further Information

The appointments were made by a decision of the Council of Ministers and are effective immediately [bta.bg].