On December 18th the Committee of Legal Affairs with the National Assembly announced the opening of new election for Chief Judicial Inspector. The term for nominations was between the 19 and 27 December (including holidays). The only candidacy filed was the one of Judge Veselina Teneva, who is working at the Supreme Administrative Court. She was proposed by the deputies Maya Manolova and Chetin Kazak. The purpose of the newly accepted rules is to ensure maximum publicity and to allow the public to acquaint the candidates, said Kazak. However, the Bulgarian Judges Association has objected against the short nomination terms in a letter as of December 26: We hope that the forthcoming report of the European Commission under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism is not the sole reason that has occasioned the hasty launch of a procedure for the selection and appointment of an Inspector-General and that the Members of Parliament will indeed be able to form the necessary quorum and act in good faith to further a meaningful reform of the judiciary, regardless of the political or coalition affiliations of individual MPs. (read the full letter here).
The day after the letter was proclaimed, 7 reputable NGOs, including BILI, declared their support to the Bulgarian Judges Association appeal. The NGOs are calling the National Assembly to adopt new adequate procedural rules including setting a sufficiently long period for nominations of candidates for this very important office for the judiciary. Read the full letter in support of the Bulgarian Judges Association here.