Bulgaria Appoints New Justice Minister
Bulgaria's parliament said it appointed on Wednesday Diana Kovacheva as justice minister, to succeed Margarita Popova who was elected vice president in October.
Kovacheva's nomination was backed by 109 MPs of the ruling centre-right party GERB and independents, parliament said in a statement on its website. A total of 44 MPs of the socialist Coalition for Bulgaria, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and far-right party Ataka voted against, and 11 deputies of the centre-right Blue Coalition abstained.
Kovacheva is the head of the local unit of corruption watchdog Transparency International.
"I consider it a serious challenge to head an institution such as the Ministry of Justice," the statement quoted Kovacheva as saying right before swearing in.
Kovacheva identified strengthening the guarantees for the supremacy of the law and the protection of citizens' rights as her top priority and she stressed the importance of cooperation among all institutions.