The Office of the Chief Prosecutor is established to see that the laws are obeyed by the ministries and other national departments, bodies of local state power, economic and public organizations, and officials as well as citizens. The chief prosecutor is elected to a five-year term. He is subject to recall, however, before the expiration of his term and is responsible only to the National Assembly. Again, as is true with the Supreme Court, between sessions the chief prosecutor reports to the State Council. The chief prosecutor exercises wide powers in the performance of his functions. Because he is elected by the National Assembly, he is certain to be a loyal party member; he appoints prosecutors (district and communal) for lower levels and can recall them before the expiration of their terms. Together with the minister of justice, he controls the judicial system for the communist party. In interpreting the communist theory of "unity of power," the constitution places the judiciary below the executive and legislative branches of state power. It also lumps together the judicial bodies and prosecutors in overlapping and parallel functions. The fact that judges and lay assessors are elected indicates that the party echelons can control the workings of the judicial machinery. THE ELECTORAL PROCEDURE The basic election law of Bulgaria is embodied in a document adopted on February 17, 1953, and published as the Law of Election for the National Assembly of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. It has been amended many times since then. Article 6 of the 1971 Constitution extends the right to vote to every Bulgarian citizen who has reached the age of eighteen, regardless of "sex, nationality, race, creed, education, occupation, official or social status, and property status." The only exceptions are those persons under "complete tutelage." An earlier law had denied the right to vote only to those who had been sentenced by a court. Members of both national and local representative bodies--the National Assembly and the people's councils--are elected by direct and secret ballot on the basis of universal, equal, and direct suffrage. Theoretically, they are responsible to their electorate and render an accounting of their activities. In this frame of reference they can be subject to recall even before the expiration of their term. In practice they are removed at the discretion of the BKP. The State Council schedules dates for elections to the National Assembly and people's councils. In no case is the date fixed later than two months after the expiration of the current mandate. The council is also empowered to schedule dates for holding referenda on decisions of the National Assembly. All election dates are set on weekends or nonworking days to ensure continuous work production.