In a public vote on Wednesday, the Slovak parliament finally managed to elect four candidates for the post of judges at the Constitutional Court. Out of 16 candidates, the most votes were given to Ladislav Dudits, Libor Dula, Peter Melicher and Peter Straka. This is already the fifth time that MPs have tried to elect candidates for the position in the highest body of the Slovak judicial system. Seven judges are currently serving at the Court, but the full complement is thirteen. The President will now chose the remaining six judges out of the twelve candidates elected by the parliament.
"A public vote was necessary in order to have a successful election of Constitutional Court judge candidates," coalition Most-Híd party chair Béla Bugár stated in the parliamentary chamber after the vote. The coalition, however, disagreed on the form of the election, as the largest coalition party Smer-SD insisted on a secret ballot. Speaker of the parliament Andrej Danko said he appreciated the arguments raised by Smer-SD, however he added that the "House Rules of Procedure speak about a public vote first and then about a secret ballot". According to the opposition MPs, the coalition is to blame for the prolonged process of electing Constitutional Court judge candidates. "First off, I'm glad that this saga is finally behind us. We'll no longer be bothering the public with a Parliament unable to meet its constitutional obligation," said Martin Klus of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity party after the vote.
The Head of the Constitutional Court Ivan Fiačan stated on Thursday morning that he appreciates the fact that Parliament has elected the remaining four candidates for the Constitutional Court. "I hope that the Constitutional Court will be complete in a short time, that six new Constitutional Court judges will be appointed and that the Court will be able to carry out its ruling powers to the full extent," he stated for TASR news agency.
President Zuzana Čaputová received the news with delight and stated that she would appoint the six remaining justices to the bench without delay. "Recognising the utmost urgency of the matter, the president will deal with the appointments as soon as she returns home from the UN General Assembly session in New York", said the president's spokesman Martin Strižinec on Wednesday.
