Supreme Judicial Council Elects Conclusively Ivan Geshev as Prosecutor General

The 25-member Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Plenum Thursday voted, 20-4, to elect conclusively Ivan Geshev as Bulgaria's new Prosecutor General.

This was the second vote that the Council took on Geshev's nomination, following President Rumen Radev's refusal to decree his appointment two weeks after the candidate was elected by a vote of 20 to 4 on October 24.

Thursday's SJC decision will be sent to the President, who is now bound to sign the appointment decree.

To be elected, Geshev needed a two-thirds majority or 17 votes in favour.

The Council members resolved to revote Geshev's nomination without initiating a new procedure. After that, part of them said why they had voted in favour and against the candidate.

The second vote took place after a several hours' long debate on the reasons why the head of State refused to decree the appointment, the voting procedure, and whether a new election procedure should be launched or not.

The voting was held while unprecedented security arrangements were made around the SJC building, where proponents and opponents of Geshev's elections rallied. RY/LG

Source: BTA