THE acting chairperson of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) Svetla Petkova and Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) MP Alexander Arabadjiev have been nominated in the fourth attempt to elect a chairperson of the SAC.

Svetla Ivanova, spokesperson for the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), which elects the chairperson, said that it was expected that the election would take place at the council's meeting on November 4.

Ivanova said that Petkova's candidacy was sponsored by SJC member Zdravko Kirov, while Arabadjiev's was sponsored by Rumen Georgiev, head of the Investigative Service and also a member of the SJC.

Since the middle of October, the SAC has been without a chairperson because the former incumbent, Vladislav Slavov became a member of the Constitutional Court (CC).

So far the SJC has failed to elect a new head of the SAC a number of times.

During the last attempt two weeks ago, Petkova got 15 votes, while Arabadjiev got seven.

According to amendments to the Judiciary Act approved recently by Parliament, the successful candidate must have at least two-thirds of the 25 votes.

Meanwhile the CC elected Nedelcho Beronov as its chairperson.

Beronov, who is 75 and has been a member of the CC since 1997, nominated from the Parliamentary quota, will hold the position for three years.

Beronov and the other candidate for the position, Rumen Yankov, got an equal number of votes.

According to the law, however, Beronov, being the older, was appointed chairperson.

During the first meeting of the CC after his election, Beronov said that he would insist that hearings on cases of great public interest would be open to the public.