The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has nullified the results of the elections for the Metropolitan of the vacant Sliven diocese held on February 18. The decision was made during an extraordinary meeting of the Synod, as reported by the Bulgarian Patriarchate's website. The repeat elections for the ruling hierarch of the Sliven diocese will take place on March 13.

The official reason for annulling the elections was cited as technical errors in the published data. The Holy Synod expressed apologies for the technical mistake that occurred in the publication of the voting results.

The voting results annulment was supported by the metropolitans Grigorii of Veliko Tarnovo, Ignatii of Pleven, Gavriil of Lovech, Nikolai of Plovdiv, Antonii of Western and Central Europe, Ioann of Varna and Veliki Preslav, Naum of Rousse, Kiprian of Stara Zagora, Grigorii of Vratsa, and Iakov of Dorostol. Metropolitan Serafim of Nevrokop and Metropolitan Daniil of Vidin voted against, each with their specific opinions.

The election of a metropolitan takes place in two stages. The Holy Synod approves ten candidates, and then the eligible voters, including clergy and laity, cast their votes. Subsequently, the Synod reviews the results and makes the final decision. In the first stage of voting, the results of which were declared null and void, the leading candidates were Bishop Hierotheos of Agathopolis and Bishop Mikhail of Konstantia.

The previous head of the Sliven diocese, Metropolitan Ioannikiy (Nedelchev), passed away in January at the age of 84. After his death, Metropolitan Ioann of Varna and Veliki Preslav acted as the locum tenens of the Sliven diocese.