site.btaParliament Elects Two New Constitutional Court Judges

Parliament elected Friday two Constitutional Court judges on the quota of the legislature: Desislava Atanasova and Borislav Belazelkov.

Atanasova was backed by 159 MPs in the 240-seat Parliament, 65 voted against her and no one abstained. Belazelkov was elected in a 154-63 vote.

The third nominee, Tsveta Rangelova, who was proposed by Vazrazhdane, did not get enough support: 42 votes "for", 105 "against" and 68 abstentions. 

Atanasova was the floor leader of GERB-UDF and was nominated by her party. Belazelkov is a long-serving judge and was put forward by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria. 

The two new judges were elected for a term of nine years, according to Parliament's decision, even though the Constitutional Court decided on January 11, 2024 that those of its members who are elected late, will have a reduced term in office.  The court decision takes effect on January 20.

The swearing-in of the new judges will be on January 26, said the Constitutional Court later on Friday. They will take the oath in the presence of the National Assembly Chair, the President and the Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as the news media.

Who’s who

Borislav Belazelkov is among the most respected lawyers both in the judicial circles and in society, with over 40 years of professional experience, said Nikola Minchev of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), who presented his candidacy. Belazelkov is a professional with exceptional knowledge and experience in various fields of law, and one of his main causes is the protection of the independence of the judiciary as the main guarantor of the democratic development of Bulgaria and the protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens, Minchev said.

Desislava Atanasova was presented by Ekaterina Zaharieva as one of the most experienced parliamentarians, a former minister of health, with the necessary legal experience. Atanasova knows the legislative process and the legal acts extremely well and is the sponsor of 316 legislative initiatives, among them for amending the Constitution. Atanasova is an open and direct person, open to dialogue, said Zaharieva.

Tsveta Rangelova was presented by her floor leader Kostadin Kostadinov as having more than 21 years of legal experience. Throughout her professional career, her work has been related to legal defence in all areas of law. She enjoys a good reputation among her colleagues and is often among the elected delegates to the annual general meetings of lawyers in the country. She is also an active member of society who champions public causes, said Kostadinov.

The election of constitutional judges was included as the first item on the agenda at the suggestion of Parliament Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov at the beginning of the plenary session. After the presentation of the candidates, the debate began.

The debate

Parliament took close to four hours to debate the election of the new Constitutional Court judges. There was much criticism over the nomination of outstanding political figures such as Atanasova and Rangelova. Vazrazhdane, for their part, had strong objections to Belazelkov's nomination over his practice as a judge and one particular judgment that ordered the State to pay a BGN 1 million compensation to a private company.

Parliament's resolution to elect the two new judges for a term of nine years was a major issue, as there is a Constitutional Court decision ruling that those of its members whose election was overdue will serve out only the remainder of the term and not the full period. 

It transpired during the debate, however, that the Constitutional Court decision becomes effective on January 20, which is a day after the election of the new judges. 

Some MPs - from Vazrazhdane and BSP for Bulgaria, to be precise - proposed that the decisions for the election of Atanasova and Belazelkov say explicitly that they will serve a seven-year mandate. 

Following is a takeaway from the debate and subsequent comments in and out of Parliament's debating chamber:

Hristo Ivanov, CC-DB co-floor leader: The election of people from the political field to the Constitutional Court is not unprecedented. The way this Court is manned is different from that of the regulators and especially from the judiciary. 

Petar Petrov MP (Vazrazhdane): The MPs should reconsider their choice of Borislav Belazelkov as a constitutional judge. Are GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) returning a favour with this vote and if so, shouldn't they come out and say that they are not serving the interests of the State but of corporate interests and are now returning a favour? It is a disgrace that the National Assembly elected as a constitutional judge a man who has awarded a private company BGN 1 million in compensations from the State! 
 
Atanas Atanasov (CC-DB): The courts cannot be expected to rule in favour of the State only because it is the State.

Kornelia Ninova, Floor Leader of BSP for Bulgaria: Today the last fortress of the rule of law - the Constitutional Court - will fall. Today the Constitutional Court falls, being taken over from the inside by the new constitutional judges, because they will undoubtedly carry out political orders. Atanasova will not make decisions according to the rule of law if Boyko Borissov calls her.

Toshko Yordanov, Floor Leader of There Is Such a People: We have already said that this is a very shameful way and that constitutional judges are being elected out of fear that the Constitutional Court might decide that the resolutions of Parliament, including the recent changes to the Constitution, are unconstitutional. Ms Atanasova is an outright political candidate while CC-DB just wanted to make sure they push through someone who would cater to their interests. 

Independent MP Radostin Vassilev: The election of Desislava Atanasova will undermine the authority of the Constitutional Court.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov: Judge Borislav Belazelkov and Desislava Atanasova are good lawyers and know politics in Bulgaria. I was a bit surprised by the debate, especially from the BSP side. At times it went beyond the boundaries of reality. GERB was created to remove BSP from power and so far the Bulgarian people have confirmed it in over 20 elections. I hope that President Rumen Radev will not boycott the swearing-in of Belazelkov and Atanasova.  

MRF floor leader Delyan Peevski: Both candidates [Atanasova and Belazelkov] had the full support of the MRF. The decision on the 9-year mandate is a matter of the lawyers' judgment. We believe that they are right.

CC-DB co-floor leader Kiril Petkov: We are aware of the cost of compromises, but if the end result is that more people like Borislav Belazelkov enter these institutions, I believe that Bulgaria will change for the better. In this distribution of power in Parliament, each political party has two responsibilities - to put forward candidates who are in line with its own ideology, and to be careful not to allow candidates who are below the red line of eligibility for that party. The entire parliamentary group is happy that Belazelkov will be part of the Constitutional Court. People like him will ensure that institutions change.

Vazrazhdane co-leader Kostadin Kostadinov: Today the Constitutional Court (CC) was defiled. It was the last remaining institution in the state that guaranteed the constitutional order. Parliament elected people whose purpose is to legitimize crimes already committed in Parliament. Belazelkov and Atanasova are politically colored, politicized and questionable in terms of their professional qualities and skills. From now on, we see a problem how the future votes of the Constitutional Court will be formed - based on the personal conviction of the future judges, their knowledge of the legal matter or based on their phone book and who calls them.

There Is Such a People leader Slavi Trifonov: Another bastion of democracy - the Constitutional Court - has just fallen. There are only two left - 71 members of the opposition and the President's Office. If they too fall, we will find ourselves in the bizarre position of living in a supposedly democratic state, a member of democratic unions, but in reality a dictatorship. The dictatorship of an 'assemblage' which, using clichés about Euro-Atlanticism, judicial reform and anti-corruption, ends up conquering the State for its own economic interests.  The wrong decisions of the self-deluded 'assemblage' will surely return like a boomerang, causing terrible damage. "Assemblage" is widely used as a reference to the parties in Parliament that support the government.

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov: The Constitutional Court judges' election procedure entirely lies within the powers of the National Assembly and it followed the law. The two candidates differ substantially in their profiles, and this will impact the manner in which they will act in their capacity as judges.