site.btaUPDATED Supreme Court of Cassation Judge Galina Toneva Elected Representative to Constitutional Court

The General Assembly of Judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) and the Supreme Administrative Court, held on November 1, 2024, elected Judge Galina Toneva-Dacheva as a member of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria. Following a run-off, the new member of the Constitutional Court received 94 of the votes of the 180 judges of the two supreme courts participating in the General Assembly. Judge Svetlana Kalinova, the other participant in the run-off, was voted for by 81 of the Supreme Court judges, the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) and the Supreme Administrative Court said in a press release on Friday.

Judge Galina Toneva-Dacheva graduated in Law from Sofia University in 1984. From 1985 to 1986 she was a trainee judge at the Sofia City Court, and from 1986 to 1990 she was a legal adviser. From 1990 to 1992 she was a deputy district prosecutor at the Fifth Regional Prosecution Office in Sofia, and from 1992 to 1995 she was a district judge at the Fifth Regional Court - Sofia. From 1995 to 1998 she was a judge at the Sofia City Court. From 1998 to 2007 she was a judge at the Sofia Appellate Court (SAC), from 2007 to 2008 she was Acting Deputy Chairman of SAC, and from 2008 to 2009 she was Deputy Chairman of SAC.

From 2009 to 2013 she was Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office, in 2013 she was a prosecutor at the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office, Head of the Sector for Coordination of Institutional Cooperation and Training, after which she was a prosecutor in the Analytical Department until 2015. From 2013 to 2015, she was a seconded permanent lecturer at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

Since 2015 she has been a judge at the SCC, and since December 6, 2018 she has been President of the Second Criminal Division of the SCC. She is a member of the Programme Council of the NIJ from 2012 to 2013 and from 2019 to the present, and is also a lecturer at the NIJ. She is also a member of the Analytical Unit of the SCC.

Three candidates ran to be elected: Judge Evgeniy Staykov, SCC Vice President and Head of the Commercial Chamber; Judge Galina Toneva-Dacheva of the SCC Criminal Chamber; and Judge Svetlana Kalinova of the SCC Civil Chamber.

After the first vote, none of the three candidates received the required majority of more than half of the votes of the participating Supreme Court judges, so a second vote was held, with the names of the two candidates who had received the most votes in the first vote. 

The election proceedings were broadcast live on the websites of the two high courts, the press release said.