Kiska: Constitutional Judges Should Be Independent and Impartial

Bratislava, November 20 (TASR) - It's of the utmost importance for the Constitutional Court to be filled with honest judges of top quality who will guarantee independent and impartial rulings, stated President Andrej Kiska on Tuesday after meeting Judicial Council chair Lenka Prazenkova, Supreme Court Chair Daniela Svecova and Public Ombudswoman Maria Patakyova in connection with the nomination of candidates for Constitutional Court judges. The term of office for nine out of 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. According to Kiska, the selection of constitutional judges is an opportunity for constitutional officials to show to the public that they have real interest in restoring people's trust in justice and the state as such. "The Constitutional Court is the final judicial authority in Slovakia to which people can turn when other public authorities fail. It decides on the most difficult legal and social issues that often have a political dimension," he said. Kiska went on to say that he's met representatives of all democratic political parties in connection with the election of the court's judges. "They have personally confirmed to me that they have no doubt that we have more than 18 fully qualified candidates in Slovakia," he said. The president added that in line with the law there are various people and institutions that are entitled to submit nominees for constitutional judges, including legal chambers, universities, the ombudswoman as well as senior representatives of power. Kiska has met some of them to "encourage them to make responsible nominations and to look for candidates who have both professionalism and character". The deadline for submitting proposals for constitutional judge nominees is January 7. Kiska added that all of the meetings that he's so far held in this regard have confirmed that there are enough honest lawyers in Slovakia to run for the posts. tz/df