Supreme Court of Cassation deputy president and chair of the Criminal Division Mr. Grozdan Iliev was nominated for Constitutional Court justice from the Parliament quota to take the seat which was left unoccupied by Ms. Veneta Markovska. The nomination was submitted on Monday at 17:58, at the very close of business when the term for nominations was to expire. Mr. Iliev was nominated by three Members of Parliament from the GERB party – Krassimir Tsipov, Dimitar Lazarov and Emil Radev as the official nomination of the GERB party.
Other nominations for Constitutional Court justices were not submitted by the end of the business day. Shortly after the candidacy of Mr. Iliev was made public, representatives of the RZS party announced that they will not nominate Prof. Valentina Popova as they had previously stated, because Judge Iliev has high reputation.
Right after the nomination of Mr. Grozdan Iliev was submitted, the GERB press center revealed the motives in support thereof. Most of them were based on his professional biography and experience.
The nomination will be voted on March 6, 2013 by the Parliament, following a public hearing of the candidate by the Parliament’s Legal Commission on February 27, 2013.