Marinela Toteva, a prosecutor at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office, says she will work to strengthen the independence of the judiciary if she is elected to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). She said this at the hearing of candidates from the prosecutors' quota.

She also named greater public trust in the justice system as a goal. Toteva wants judges and prosecutors to be protected from political, economic and media pressure from outside, and to be able to work in peace, free from improper influence.

In her plan, the SJC is a collective governing body that must respond quickly and firmly to any attempt at excessive outside interference. The council must work well with the other branches of state power, within its own powers.

Toteva believes that, in dealing with the other two branches, the SJC should above all defend the independence of the judiciary. But it should also try to cut needless confrontation and pettiness.

She says pay for junior judges and prosecutors should always be updated. The SJC also bears much of the responsibility for making sure competitions for transfers and promotions are held regularly.