1The chairperson of the High Court is elected for a three-year period without the right to re-election by the general meeting of the court.

2For being elected as chairperson of the court, the candidate shall

ahave at least three years of experience at the respective court;

bhave no disciplinary sanction in force;

chave been evaluated at least ‘very good’ in the two previous ethical and professional performance evaluations;

çjudges appointed according to Article 49 of this Law shall have been evaluated at least ‘very good’ in the previous ethical and professional performance evaluation.

3The general meeting of all magistrates of the court shall be chaired by the chairperson of the court in the case foreseen by paragraph 4 letter ‘a’ of this Article and by the deputy chairperson in case foreseen by paragraph 4 letter b) of this Article.

4The chairperson of the general meeting shall invite all candidates who fulfil the criteria to express within ten days their interest for being elected as chairperson

aat least two months before the date when the mandate of the incumbent chairperson ends;

bat least within ten days from the early termination of the mandate of the chairperson.

5The chairperson of the court shall notify about the general meeting and disseminate the list of candidates having expressed their interest for chairperson to the members of the general meeting of the High Court at least one month prior to the end of the mandate. The general meeting shall be held at least two weeks prior to the end of the mandate of the chairperson.

6At least two weeks after the early termination of mandate of the chairperson, the deputy chairperson of the court shall notify about a general meeting, as well as disseminate to the members of the general meeting of the High Court the list of candidates having expressed the interest for chairperson. The general meeting shall be held at least one month after the early termination of the mandate of the chairperson.

7The decision on the election of the chairperson shall be taken by an absolute majority of votes of all the members of the general meeting.

8If in the first voting none of the candidates receives the required number of votes, a second voting is immediately held between the two candidates who have received the highest number of votes. If even in the second voting, no candidate receives the required number of votes, the magistrate with most votes shall be considered elected. In case of equality of votes, the magistrate with the longer professional experience as magistrate shall have priority.

9The Council shall establish more detailed rules on the procedures for a general meeting, voting and the way of counting the results of the voting.