site.btaParliament Elects Orlin Kolev as Constitutional Court Judge

Parliament elected Orlin Kolev as a judge of the Constitutional Court from the National Assembly quota with 127 votes in favour, 104 against and two abstentions on Thursday. Kolev's nomination proposed by GERB-UDF was supported by GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning, BSP - United Left, and There Is Such a People.

Kolev will take the place of Konstantin Penchev in the Constitutional Court.

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria's (CC-DB) nomination Yonko Grozev was rejected with 38 votes in favour, 190 against and five abstentions.

Kolev is a university lecturer in constitutional law with more than 18 years of experience and a member of the Commission for Protection against Discrimination, according to the biography published on the Parliament's website.

At the beginning of the debate the two candidates for the Constitutional Court were presented by the political parties that nominated them. CC-DB Co-Floor Leader Nadejda Iordanova said that Grozev's candidacy has been nominated and supported by more than 40 undisputed authorities in both legal science and public life. She added that the inclusion of judges from the European Court of Human Rights in constitutional courts is good practice.

GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Raya Nazaryan said that Kolev is a worthy candidate with a good reputation. "He enjoys a high degree of trust, and we believe that if elected as a Constitutional Court judge, he will continue to be impartial, committed to the law, to the cause and to the public's interests," she added.