site.btaSocialists Demand Calling Off Procedure for Election of Prosecutor General

The top leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and its BSP for Bulgaria group in Parliament demanded Friday calling off the procedure for election of a Prosecutor General. The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) should end the procedure for the election of a new Prosecutor General, the Socialists say in a position sent to the news media. They also urge for suspending the procedure for electing a new president of the Supreme Administrative Court.

The decision of the SJC, whose term has been long expired, to start a procedure for the election of a prosecutor general who will lead the state prosecution in the next seven years is "a controversial step", the Socialists argue.

The position is released a day after the nomination of Borislav Sarafov, the current acting Prosecutor General, for a full tenure as this country's top prosecutor. He is the only candidate for the job. The nomination prompted the Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) coalition to start seeking support for a petition to ask the Constitutional Court to interpret a constitutional provision, and determine if a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with an expired term of office - which is the case with the current SJC, is qualified to nominate a new prosecutor general or president of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court. CC-DB say it is utterly wrong for this SJC to make such nominations. The same position is held by one of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms factions (that of honorary chair Ahmed Dogan).

By contrast, GERB-UDF argue that this SJC is perfectly qualified to nominate Sarafov, even though it is long past its term in office, and say that the Constitutional Court has already decided on this matter,

"The election of a single candidate, that of the acting prosecutor general, at the last possible moment, raises even more questions. Moreover, it creates a feeling of a foregone, long determined choice", BSP said.

According to BSP, the current procedure for the election of a prosecutor general strongly reminds of the procedure for the election of the former prosecutor general, Ivan Geshev, who was also the only nominee put forward at the last moment. “Geshev was the choice and nomination of the same SJC," BSP added.

Then, President Rumen Radev vetoed Geshev's appointment, which the SJC subsequently overrode. "Fairness is one of society’s fundamental values. Let's not allow the country to be brought to another crisis, a crisis of faith in justice," the position adds.