Parliamentary election of constitutional judges delayed

The election of candidates for Constitutional Court judges in Parliament has been delayed until early February. The rescheduling was in reaction to the situation that emerged after the constitutional committee failed to adopt a stance on whether or not Smer-SD leader and ex-premier Robert Fico meets the legal requirements for a constitutional judge. Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) insisted that the committee should decide on Fico, as it did for the remaining 39 candidates, and that the decision should be made before the election in the House takes place. A spokesman for President Andrej Kiska said the president perceives the delay as confirmation that the legislators either underestimated the situation or miscalculated. The term of office for nine out of the 13 Constitutional Court judges is due to expire in February. Parliament should elect 18 candidates and propose them to the president, who should subsequently appoint nine of them.