6 Chosen for Bulgaria's New Supreme Judicial Council

The latest EC report on Bulgaria’s progress on justice and home affairs has exposed the inefficient practices of the Supreme Judicial Council. Photo by BGNES

Six members of Bulgaria's new Supreme Judicial Council, VSS, from the judiciary quota have been elected after twenty four hours of voting.

The names of five of them were announced at about 8:30 am Sunday in the presence of about 100 people from a total of 427 delegates, who gathered for the vote Saturday at the National Palace of Culture, NDK, in downtown Sofia.

Kamen Ivanov, a judge from the Sofia Appellate Court, was the only one to be elected at first round by collecting 244 votes.

According to the rule, the candidate must secure 50% of all votes plus one.

The counting of the ballots for the first round took over 5 hours, prompting proposals late Saturday to postpone the vote. At the end, the delegates decided to proceed with the runoff anyway and were able to elect the other 5 from the professional magistrates' quota.

They are: Yuliya Kovacheva, Judge at the Supreme Administrative Court, VAS, Milka Itova, Judge at the Sofia City Court, SGS, Daniela Kostova, Judge at the Varna District Court, Galiya Georgieva, Judge at the Plovdiv Appellate Court, and Kalin Kalpakchiev, Judge at the Sofia Appellate Court.

Immediately after the first round, Kamen Ivanov commented that he expected to be elected, but voiced surprise that he had been the only one.

The election of the new VSS is considered key for Bulgaria in the aftermath of several large-scale scandals in which the current one was entangled and the latest EC report on Bulgaria's five-year progress under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), highlighting the misguided policies of VSS, the inconsistent application of the principle of independence of the judiciary and the implementation of reforms under external pressure.

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