site.btaProsecutor General Election Set to Take Place January 16

The election for the Prosecutor General is set for January 16, as decided by the plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Thursday after confirming the date. Fourteen members at the meeting voted in favour, while Olga Kerelska and the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Galina Zaharieva, voted against.

At the end of November, the Prosecutors Chamber of the SJC accepted reports from the Committee on Appraisals and Competitions (CAC) and the Committee on Professional Ethics (CPE) regarding acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, who has been nominated for Prosecutor General. Sarafov has subsequently been granted a hearing.

Sarafov has been serving as acting Prosecutor General since June 2023, when the SJC voted his predecessor, Ivan Geshev, out of office.

Also last week, CAC and CPE within the Prosecutors Chamber of the SJC concluded that Borislav Sarafov meets all the requirements to be elected as prosecutor general.

Sarafov is running unopposed, and his nomination has sparked a series of protests and strong opposition from political parties and the President.

Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB)'s co-chair Kiril Petkov said earlier on Thursday that CC-DB plans to introduce a bill to Parliament, aiming to impose time limits on the service of acting prosecutor general and prevent Sarafov from being elected for the full seven-year term.

Alongside CC-DB, the far-right Vazrazhdane party, President Rumen Radev, the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF), and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) are also opposing Sarafov's nomination.