The judges' chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has unanimously approved 18 candidates for the upcoming election of new council members from the judges' quota.

Among those approved are Todor Gurov from Sofia City Court, Vasil Petkov from the Military Court of Appeal, and Mladen Dimitrov, who heads the District Court in Veliko Tarnovo. Also in the race are Veselka Zlateva-Kozhuharova, chair of the Administrative Court in Pazardzhik, and Maria Terziyska, deputy chair of the District Court in Varna.

The list also includes Todor Todorov from the Supreme Administrative Court. Daniela Alexandrova, deputy chair of Sofia District Court, and Nadya Pelovska-Dilkova, chair of the District Court in Vratsa, made the cut too. So did Emiliya Vasileva and Svetlana Kalinova, both judges at the Supreme Court of Cassation.

Also approved were Stefan Iliev from the Sofia Court of Appeal, Krasimir Mazgalov, deputy chair of Sofia City Court, and Vladimir Valkov from the Court of Appeal. Among them are also Vesela Evstatieva, deputy chair of the District Court in Plovdiv, Asen Tsvetanov, who heads the District Court in Radnevo, and Albena Momchilova from Sofia District Court. Roman Nikolov from the District Court in Breznik and Yavor Kolev, a judge at the Supreme Court of Cassation, were approved as well.

Candidates can appeal the chamber's decisions within three days to a mixed panel of three judges from the Supreme Court of Cassation and two from the Supreme Administrative Court.

Earlier, on 10 September, the prosecutors' chamber of the SJC also unanimously approved the candidates for council members from the prosecutors' quota — 17 people in total.