The governing party, Smer-SD, will submit a motion to have Constitutional Court judges elected directly by Parliament with 90 votes (out of total 150), with candidates who command the constitutional majority automatically set to become Constitutional Court judges, Parliamentary Vice-chair Martin Glváč (Smer-SD) said after a meeting between President Andrej Kiska and representatives of coalition parties on Thursday.
Currently, Parliament elects candidates for Constitutional Court judges and submits them to the President, who subsequently appoints them to the bench. Glváč refers to the statement by the Venice Commission as an argument to back the change. "A candidate who garners 90 votes in the Parliament shouldn't be subject to any other decision processes by Mr. President," claimed Glváč, pointing out that there hadn't been many such candidates in the past. He stressed that the motion is not designed against the incumbent president.
President Andrej Kiska perceives these plans as dangerous. Following the announcement by Smer-SD, Kiska met with representatives of coalition parties, where he stressed that a proper system of checks and balances poses a guarantee that power won't be concentrated in a single set of hands and that the Constitutional Court won't have to serve the interests of the current parliamentary majority. Kiska also added that he perceives no insurmountable obstacles that would hinder the coalition and opposition from arriving at a deal on changing the rules guiding the election of Constitutional Court judges.
"At the end of the day, the success or its lack thereof in revisiting the rules governing the election of Constitutional Court judge candidates will be determined by the willingness to do the right thing. The willingness to have a quality and trustworthy Constitutional Court by improving the rules for electing judges," thinks Kiska, who considers the motion insufficient, and objects to increasing the candidates' minimum age from 40 to 45.
