Five prosecutors from the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office, eight from the Appellate Prosecutor's Offices, seven from the district structures, three from the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, one military and one prosecutor from a regional prosecutor's office are entering the race for the four places from the professional quota in the Supreme Judicial Council.
The distribution is not just statistics. It shows which parts of the prosecutor's office are most active in personnel selection and what professional representation the future council may receive. Eight of the candidates are currently acting administrative heads or their deputies. The regional level, where the bulk of criminal proceedings are heard, has only one representative.
Five candidates from the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office
Marinela Toteva is a prosecutor in the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office. She enters the procedure with the experience of a magistrate of the highest professional level and with an overview of the work of the prosecutor's office on a national scale.
Krassimira Filipova is a prosecutor in the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office and a former deputy prosecutor general. She is among the candidates with the most serious administrative experience and one of the most recognizable careers in the central management of the prosecutor's office — a circumstance that carries institutional weight, but inevitably connects her candidacy with the personnel decisions of the previous leadership.
Atanas Gebrev is also a prosecutor in the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office. His candidacy adds another representative at the top level, where candidates traditionally come from with an eye on the personnel and organizational problems of the entire system.
Ivanka Kotorova-Duhlakova is a prosecutor in the Supreme Prosecutor's Office. She is running as a professional candidate without a current leadership position, but from the highest level of the prosecutorial hierarchy.
Siika Mileva is a prosecutor in the Supreme Prosecutor's Office and one of the most recognizable public figures on the list. As a former spokesperson for the Prosecutor General, she has experience in the internal work and public communication of the institution, but also brings a recognizable connection to the way the prosecution service presented itself during this period.
The five candidates from the Supreme Prosecutor's Office offer a view “from the top down”. Their experience is undeniable, but the question remains to what extent it includes a direct understanding of the daily problems of first-instance prosecutors and sufficient distance from previous management practices.
The appellate level with the most candidates
Todor Deyanov is the deputy appellate prosecutor of Plovdiv. He combines professional experience at the appellate level with participation in the management of one of the large prosecutorial districts.
Dobrinka Kalcheva is a prosecutor at the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Plovdiv. She is entering the election as an ordinary appellate-level magistrate, without the advantages and limitations of an active administrative position.
Plamen Evgeniev is a prosecutor at the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Sofia. His work is related to the largest appellate district, covering the capital prosecutor's offices and numerous structures from Western Bulgaria.
Milena Gaova is a prosecutor at the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Varna. Her candidacy ensures representation of Northeastern Bulgaria and magistrates outside the administrative leadership.
Jovita Grigorova is a deputy appellate prosecutor of Burgas. Her profile brings together practical and managerial experience in an area with significant workload and specific seasonal and cross-border dynamics.
Ivaylo Angelov is a prosecutor at the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Sofia. He is the second candidate from this structure, but he participates as a regular prosecutor, and not as part of its current leadership.
Dimitar Leshtakov is a prosecutor at the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Veliko Tarnovo. His candidacy expands the geographical representation beyond the largest centers of Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna.
Daniela Popova is the administrative head and appellate prosecutor of Sofia. She holds the highest active management position among the candidates at the appellate level and heads the largest appellate district in the country.
With eight candidates, the appellate prosecutor's offices are the most strongly represented group. This numerical concentration is noticeable compared to the more numerous district level and raises the question of whether the distribution of candidacies reflects the structure of the prosecutor's office, or primarily the organizational activity of its upper floors.
The district level: managers and ordinary prosecutors
Blagovest Vangelov is a prosecutor in the Burgas District Prosecutor's Office. He represents the ordinary magistrates of a large district structure, which deals with diverse and often complex proceedings.
Vladimir Nikolov is a prosecutor in the Pleven District Prosecutor's Office and its former administrative head. He enters the race with management experience and accumulated recognition in the professional community.
Atanas Iliev is a deputy district prosecutor of Smolyan. His candidacy gives him a presence in a smaller judicial district, where management and actual prosecutorial work are usually closely linked.
Darin Hristov is a prosecutor in the Burgas District Prosecutor's Office. He is one of three candidates from this prosecutor's office — the most serious concentration of contenders from a single district structure.
Georgi Chinev is the administrative head and district prosecutor of Burgas. His candidacy carries the weight of an acting head, but also puts him in direct competition with two prosecutors from his own structure.
Radoslav Gradev is the administrative head and district prosecutor of Ruse. He enters the election with experience in managing a district prosecutor's office and with the ability to seek support among magistrates in Northern Bulgaria.
Ivaylo Iliev is a prosecutor in the District Prosecutor's Office in Kyustendil. He represents a smaller district structure and participates without the organizational resources of an acting administrative head.
The district level seems relatively balanced — two acting heads, one deputy and four ordinary prosecutors. Management experience is an advantage, but the selection will also be influenced by whether the candidates propose solutions that differ from the practices of the familiar administrative hierarchy.
Three candidates from the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office
Ivan Taskov is a prosecutor in the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. He participates as an ordinary magistrate from a structure that works on a significant part of cases of high public and institutional interest.
Desislava Petrova is a deputy city prosecutor of Sofia. Her candidacy brings experience from managing one of the busiest and most publicly monitored prosecutor's offices in the country.
Marina Nenkova is a prosecutor in the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office and until recently a deputy city prosecutor. In the official list of candidates, she was listed with the deputy position, but on August 20, the Prosecutor's College dismissed her from the administrative post and reappointed her as a prosecutor in the same structure.
The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office has a status comparable to the district level, but significantly greater public visibility. The presence of a current and until recently a member of the leadership makes it important to distinguish between the personal programs of the candidates and the institutional model to which they were associated.
A candidate from the military prosecutor's offices
Hristo Anchev is an administrative manager and military district prosecutor of Plovdiv. He is the only representative of the military prosecutor's offices and enters the election with a clearly defined professional and managerial profile.
And one from the district prosecutor's office
Plamen Petkov is a prosecutor in the Sofia District Prosecutor's Office and the only candidate from the district level. It is there that the system most often meets directly with citizens and where a large part of the daily first-instance prosecutor's work is concentrated.
Petkov also participated in the election in 2022, when he raised the questions of delayed competitions, formal attestation and the use of secondment as a substitute for career growth. This allows his positions to be compared over time, but as with all other candidates, the decisive factor will be whether they are supported by applicable decisions.
Thus, the race offers significant supreme, appellate and administrative experience, but limited representation of district prosecutors. The choice will show what will weigh more — place in the hierarchy, regional support, management resources or direct experience from first-instance work.