Hristo Ivanov of Yes, Bulgaria: Judicial reform went to the bin

"The judicial reform has been thrown in the bin. It is a model that shows the utter madness of concentrating so much power at the top of a repressive institution and having no control over the figure who runs it. The court has said that Bulgaria is a republic with the dominance of the prosecutor'. This is how Hristo Ivanov, the resigned leader of Yes, Bulgaria and the main author of the amendments, commented on yesterday's decision by the Constitutional Court to annul some of the recent key amendments to the Basic Law on bTV.

The Court's decision abolishes the 5-year mandate and reinstates the 7-year mandate of the Prosecutor General. The Prosecutor General's powers can only be curtailed by the Grand National Assembly, which is convened through a complex procedure and on limited occasions. At the same time, the court upheld the new caretaker cabinet model, in which the president selects a caretaker prime minister from a limited pool of individuals, maintains a sitting National Assembly even during elections, and allows persons with dual citizenship to stand as deputies and ministers.