No early election for constitutional court judges

Parliament won't elect candidates for Constitutional Court judge earlier than was originally planned, as the plenum on Tuesday turned down MP Ondrej Dostál's (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) proposal to shift the date of the election from 3 April to 27 March. In making the proposal Dostál pointed to the fact that the Constitutional Court has been paralysed since 16 February, when nine of its 13 judges ended their terms. MPs are slated to elect Constitutional Court judges late in the afternoon of April 3, with the debate on the election taking place in the morning of the same day. As nobody was chosen in the first vote, only four out of 13 judges are serving on the Constitutional Court at the moment. Candidates were discussed at a Coalition Council meeting on Tuesday. MPs are to elect 18 candidates, from which the president will choose nine new Constitutional Court judges.