Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee has approved in first reading draft amendments to the Judicial System Act that would end the current procedure for electing a new Prosecutor General. 

The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) will not be able to elect a Prosecutor General or presidents of Supreme Courts after its mandate expires - this was the draft proposed by the Varazhdane party. 

The We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria project proposes that the Chief Prosecutor should be elected by all members of the SJC, not just those from the Prosecutors' College. 

The third approved project comes from the party There is Such a People. It aims to limit the powers of the Prosecutor General.

MPs gave the green light to the changes just days before the announced date for the election of the Prosecutor General - 16 January, with a single candidate - acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov.

Caretaker Justice Minister Maria Pavlova urged lawmakers not to rush through the changes, saying that judicial reform had been in the works for 30 years and that each time the reforms had been worse than the one before because they had been carried out in an ad hoc and hasty manner.