January 14 (BTA) - All 20 members of Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) who attended Friday meeting of the Council voted in favour of Galina Zaharova's nomination for president of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC). If the President of the Republic decrees her appointment without objections, she will be the first woman to head the country's court of last resort on civil, criminal, military and commercial matters since it was re-established in 1996. Her seven-year term will begin on February 10, 2022.

After the election, Judge Zaharova, who was the only candidate for the post and was put forward by the SJC Plenum, thanked the SJC members for placing trust in her nomination. "I am convinced that this is a huge step towards judicial self-governance," she said.

A large part of the SJC members made statements expressing support for Zaharova's nomination. They presented their positions after the candidate was given a nearly six hours' long hearing by the SJC Plenum.

Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev said he will back Zaharova's bid because she is an "impeccable professional" and has been supported unanimously by the SJC Plenum.

SJC member Evgeni Ivanov noted that he expected multiple candidates to compete for the post but stressed that "a single candidate does not imply a weak election".

Galina Zaharova was born in Sofia on May 4, 1964. She graduated in law from the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia in 1988 and specialized in European law at the European Centre for Judges and Lawyers in Luxembourg under the European Institute of Public Administration. She served as a junior judge at the Sofia City Court (1989-1991), a regional judge and vice president of the Sofia Regional Court (1991-1992), a judge at the Sofia City Court (1999-2004), vice president of the Sofia City Court (2004-2007), member of the SJC (2007-2011), judge at the Sofia Appellate Court (2011-2013), and judge at the SCC (since 2013), where she was president of the Second Criminal Division (since 2017) and SCC Vice President and Head of the Criminal Chamber (since November 13, 2018).