November 16 (BTA) - Judge Pavlina Panova is the new chair of the country's Constitutional Court. She was elected at a meeting on Tuesday and is the first woman to chair the country's highest court, the Court said.

The meeting was attended by 11 constitutional judges.

Panova will replace Boris Velchev, whose tenure expired on Monday.

Pavlina Panova was elected a Constitutional Court justice from the judges' quota in 2018. Previously she served as a criminal justice and head of the criminal division of the Supreme Court of Cassation. She is a long-serving ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Seven years ago Panova contended for the post of President of the Supreme Court of Cassation but the Supreme Judicial Council elected Lozan Panov.