For the first time in history, a woman is elected as head of Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court

Judge Pavlina Panova is the new Head of Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court.

She was elected at a court hearing today, November 16. All 11 judges were present.

Panova is the first woman to head the Constitutional Court in the history of the institution. She became a Constitutional Judge in 2018, elected by the General Assembly of Judges in the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court.

Before that, Panova was a criminal judge and deputy chair of the Supreme Court of Cassation. Seven years ago, she was also a candidate for chair of the Supreme Court of Cassation, but her rival Lozan Panov was elected to the post.

Now Pavlina Panova is taking over the post of Chair of the Constitutional Court from Prof. Boris Velchev, whose term as a constitutional judge expired yesterday.

Pavlina Panova, 54, holds a PhD in law from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". She is a criminal judge with many years of experience. She was the head of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Cassation and vice-president of the court. She was an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for many years.

The first chair of the Constitutional Court was Assen Manov. Then, for consecutive three year term, the the position was held by Prof. Zhivko Stalev. Hristo Danov and Nedelcho Beronov, Rumen Yankov, Evgeni Tanchev and Dimitar Tokushev. Prof. Boris Velchev was chair of the Constitutional Court for two terms and thus headed the institution for 6 years.