The procedure for electing a new SJC is moving forward. The Prosecutors’ and Judges’ Colleges have already been partially filled – the members elected by the prosecutors and judges number four and six, respectively. Only the investigative magistrates’ body remains to nominate its representative, which will happen at the end of the month. Thus, the 11-member professional quota will have been elected. Certain trends can be identified, although a more in-depth analysis of the data on who voted for whom is needed. I am referring to the judges – which appellate or district judicial regions they come from and how they voted. This information is available, but time is needed to analyze it and determine the attitudes among the judges themselves. Judge Kalin Kalpakchiev said this to Lily Marinkova in the FAKTI studio and on the “Conversation” program.
“To some extent, the elected judges repeat what has happened over the years since the vote became direct. This is the third Supreme Judicial Council to be elected not by a delegates’ assembly, but with every judge having the right to vote. We observe that certain judges support an entire group of their colleagues who are not particularly popular, and we ask ourselves why these colleagues, who are unpopular across the country, receive votes,” he said.
“One explanation, and it is not conspiratorial, is that it is clear how the heads of the major courts, of the influential courts in the country, organize this vote in some way. More than 15–16 years ago, an alternative forum of heads of district courts was created, including the heads of the district courts in Plovdiv, Haskovo, Burgas, Stara Zagora and Vratsa. Gradually, this forum, which was implementing a European project, formally ceased to exist, but as an informal organization of the heads of the major and influential courts, it continued to exert influence over some of the judges in order to direct their vote in one direction or another at such important moments,” the judge explained.
“The data we have seen over the past 20 years shows that this network, this forum, can engage up to about one-third of the judges. There are 2,200 of them in total. The forum can mobilize around 600–700 votes. The remaining approximately two-thirds are not organized in any way. The Union of Judges, which is cited as the other alternative in such situations, has neither the same capacity nor the same scope of action, so to speak,” Kalin Kalpakchiev added.
“Other votes are scattered among the many candidates or concentrated on several of them, as was the case here. We are talking about judges recognized by the entire community, professional authorities. In this case, Judges Tsvetana Kalinova and Emilia Vasileva are two judges with many years of experience. They have trained a large proportion of judges in their field – civil and commercial law – and are known and recognized as undisputed professional and moral authorities. Despite the fierce competition and the scattering of votes, they received enough support to become part of the Judges’ College of the new SJC,” Judge Kalin Kalpakchiev also said.
Watch more from the interview in the VIDEO.