Protest in front of Parliament over the election of the two new Constituional Court judges

Hours before the new Constitutional Court judges are sworn in office, a civil protest took place outside the Parliament on January 24 demanding the termination of the procedure and the withdrawal of the elected magistrates.

President challenged the constitutionality of the election of two new Constitutional Court judges

“Justice for All” initiative expressed their dissatisfaction with the MPs' decision.

The protest was held under the slogan "Constitutional Court under siege! Let's defend law and democracy".

The organisers from "Justice for All" initiative point out that the election of Desislava Atanasova and Borislav Belazelkov is political and is not consistent with the professional qualities of the candidates. And more - the election of members of the Constitutional Court are non-transparent, non-public and unjustified.

Another issue pointed by "Justice for All" is the nine-year term in office of the new constitutional judges, they describe it as a "job transfer" and unprecedented act.

As an argument, they pointed to an available decision of the Constitutional Court that the terms of the newly elected members should be seven years because the delay in their election is more than two years.

"There was no openness, there was no transparency, there was no publicity, there was a political bargain of the leaders in the ruling majority - to put forward two candidates, one of them extremely politically charged and professionally controversial, which violates even the minimum standards for constitutional judges. We want to say that this cannot happen anymore and this cannot continue for the other regulatory bodies and especially in the upcoming elections for the Supreme Judicial Council and the Supreme Prosecutorial Council," said Velislav Velichkov, “Justice for All”.

"Very controversial candidates, controversial voting, which compromises the constitutional reform," added Vera Staevska.