The Legal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly has concluded the hearings of the candidates for members of the Supreme Judicial Council from the parliamentary quota. Ivan Kalibacev, Krasimir Komsalov, Milena Karagyozova and Stefan Milev were the last to present themselves before the MPs.
Kalibacev is a judge at the District Court in Plovdiv, Komsalov is president of the District Court in Pazardzhik, Karagyozova is deputy president of the District Court in Veliko Tarnovo, and Milev is a judge at the Sofia Court of Appeal. All four were nominated by “Progressive Bulgaria”.
During the hearing, Krasimir Komsalov was asked about the election of the future Prosecutor General and the need for him to be independent. “No less important is the question of what conditions will subsequently be created for the prosecutor who is elected Prosecutor General to truly be independent,” he said. In his words, this is the responsibility of the Prosecutorial College and the entire Supreme Judicial Council.
All candidacies received support
After the hearings ended, the Legal Affairs Committee supported all 21 candidacies with 18 votes in favour and referred them for discussion and a vote in the plenary chamber. Thirteen candidates are competing for the six seats on the Judicial College, while eight candidacies have been submitted for the five seats on the Prosecutorial College.
Legal Affairs Committee Chair Yanka Tyankova said that the procedure had taken place following lengthy discussions and disputes over the rules. “We have travelled a very long road, during which, after much criticism and many disputes, we ultimately united around the procedural rules,” she said.
Nadezhda Yordanova of “Democratic Bulgaria” described the hearing as “comprehensive, clear and complete”. In her words, the candidates presented their concepts and answered the questions put to them.
A vote in the plenary chamber is forthcoming
The National Assembly will vote on the candidacies separately. The election of each member of the Supreme Judicial Council requires at least 160 votes in favour, or two-thirds of all 240 MPs. Thus, the final filling of the parliamentary quota will depend on support from different parliamentary groups.
In parallel with the parliamentary procedure, the election of representatives from the professional quota is continuing. The judges have already presented their candidates, the prosecutors have elected their four representatives, while the investigators are yet to hear the nominees and elect their representative to the new Supreme Judicial Council.
Sources: bnrnews.bg, btvnovinite.bg