site.btaBulgarian Judges Association Says Election of New SAC President by SJC Was Poorly Motivated

Sofia, September 18 (BTA) - The largest professional organization of magistrates in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Judges Association, said in a statement Monday that the election of a new President of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) last week was poorly motivated. Just two of the members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) majority who voted for the election of Georgi Cholakov to the SAC presidency publicly provided arguments in favour of their choice.

"The unmotivated choice is the main disadvantage of the procedure," the Judges Association said.

Cholakov was elected to the presidency of the Supreme Administrative Court by a majority of 20 votes in the 25-member SJC, leaving only five votes for the pro-reform Sonya Yankoulova. He was the favourite of his predecessor Georgi Kolev and his election was largely expected.

President Roumen Radev is yet to sign the decree on Cholakov's appointment, but there is no time-limit for that. Radev may even not sign the document, which means the procedure will be returned for reconsideration by SJC.

The Justice for All non-government organization and five extra-parliamentary parties urged the President not to decree Cholakov's election because of suspicions that his election was pre-decided and because the outgoing SJC has been discredited.