site.btaBTA Plans Dedicated Coverage of Supreme Judicial Council Election

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) will cover the election of members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) from the quota of the National Assembly and the election of SJC members by judges, prosecutors and investigating magistrates, under a dedicated developing topic (section) in Bulgarian and English called "New Supreme Judicial Council".

The English version will cover news related to the developing topic. In Bulgarian, the section will have three subsections: news, announcements and video/live.

BTA will broadcast live on its website the proceedings of the National Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee during the hearings of shortlisted candidates for SJC membership, the election of members from the parliamentary quota, and the general assemblies of judges, prosecutors and investigating magistrates for the election of SJC members.

The election procedure

The SJC consists of 25 members: 22 elective and three ex officio (the presidents of the two supreme courts and the prosecutor general). The elective members represent the three magistrate communities (judges, prosecutors, and investigating magistrates) in the SJC’s two chambers: Judges Chamber and Prosecutors Chamber. These communities will hold two general meetings each: one to present, discuss and finalize a list of nominees, and another one to vote for their representatives on the SJC (aka “professional quota”: six members of the Judges Chamber and five members of the Prosecutors Chamber, of whom four elected by prosecutors and one by investigating magistrates). According to a timeline adopted by the SJC Plenum, the prosecutors will hold their meetings on October 17 and 24, the judges on October 31 and November 7, and the investigating magistrates on November 14 and 21.

The rest of the SJC members (aka “parliamentary quota”: six of the Judges Chamber and five of the Judges Chamber) will be elected by the National Assembly. Each nominee will be put to a separate vote, and election will require a two-thirds majority (160 votes in favour out of the total of 240 MPs).

According to rules of procedure, adopted by Parliament on July 31, 2026, the procedure will run in parallel to the nomination and election of the professional quota even though no specific timeline is mentioned.