Bulgarian Supreme Judiciary Deadlocked on Prosecutor Vote

From left to right - Borislav Sarafov, Galina Toneva and Sotir Tsatsarov, photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council, VSS, remains deadlocked on the way it will vote in the election of the country's new Chief Prosecutor.

The debate is involving mainly a paper ballot versus electronic vote.

All three Chief Prosecutor candidates – Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Galina Toneva, the Chairman of the Plovdiv Court, Sotir Tsatsarov, and the Head of the Special Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office of Appeals, Borislav Sarafov, back the ballot method.

About a month ago, VSS adopted the electronic vote, but the move stirred heated debates because the ballot vote makes it known how each VSS member has voted for each candidate. In the electronic vote, each nomination is voted separately, revealing the number of those for and against before the next nomination is to be placed for election.

Until now, the ballot vote has been used every time when there has been more than one candidate.

3 VSS members demand to have the decision on the electronic vote reexamined and reversed, which is met with strong resistance from others, who say it is time to discuss the qualities of the candidates.

At the end, the reexamination has been postponed for next Tuesday because 6 VSS members were absent.

"I have no explanation for such stubbornness," the Chief of the Supreme Court of Cassations, Lazar Gruev, who supports the ballot vote, comments.

Justice Minister, Diana Kovacheva, who chairs VSS, but has no right to vote, says she has no means to pressure the members to make a decision.

The battle for Bulgaria's new Chief Prosecutor, among the three candidates nominated for the post, is expected to be very fierce and might end without a winner.

The first to be nominated, Sotir Tsatsarov, current Chairman of the Plovdiv Regional Court, started his career in the judiciary 20 years ago as judge at the Asenovgrad District Court, and has always been a judge. The concept for his work at the highest prosecutor's office in the country, focusing on staff development, the quality of investigation and on presenting sound evidence in Court.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Galina Toneva, was second to be nominated. Her judicial career spans for 27 years over all possible positions at all levels, both as judge and as prosecutor. Elected Deputy Chief Prosecutor in 2009, she recently vowed to continue reforms launched by her former boss, Boris Velchev, stressing she has been part of his team and initiator of some of these reforms.

The third nominee is the Chief of the Specialized Anti-mafia Prosecutor's Office of Appeals, Borislav Sarafov. He has always worked as prosecutor, including in some high-profile organized crime cases, such as the ones against Zlatomir Ivanov AKA The Barret, "The Killers," and the "Galevi Brothers." Close to one year ago, he was trusted with establishing the new Bulgarian specialized Appellate Prosecutor's Office.

In recent interviews, Sarafov voiced belief he had real chances to win, adding his biography was crystal clean, and vowing to not slam the office of the prosecutor since this has always been his workplace.

The battle is expected to be fierce because 7 members of Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council, VSS, have already pledged to cast a vote for Tsatsarov, and 5 each for Toneva and Sarafov. 7 votes remain unclear, while a candidate needs a total of 17 votes to win, meaning that the top bidder will, most likely, be designated at runoff.

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