Hearing of Judges before Constitutional Committee Slated for September 16

Bratislava, September 12 (TASR) - Candidates for Constitutional Court judges will undergo hearing before the parliamentary constitutional committee on Monday (September 16) from 9 a.m., TASR learnt from the Slovak Parliament's Office on Thursday. Sixteen candidates are vying for Constitutional Court judge posts. Parliament will elect candidates at the ongoing session, as it has failed to select a sufficient number of candidates up to now. The method of electing the Constitutional Court judges is still questionable. Until now Parliament voted on them in a secret ballot. Most-Hid currently insists on the public vote, and the Slovak National Party (SNS) tends towards it as well. Smer-SD prefers secret ballot, however, its MP Erik Tomas recently admitted that Smer-SD might participate in the public election if a majority is found in the Parliament to support it. Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko (SNS) stated that the coalition parties Smer-SD, SNS and Most-Hid will have free hands when voting on the method of the election. Nine judicial posts were vacated at the Constitutional Court in February. Parliament was supposed to elect double that number, namely 18 candidates, from whom the head of state should have appointed nine judges. The Constitutional Court currently has seven out of 13 judges. President Zuzana Caputova has said that she'll appoint constitutional judges when she receives the full number of candidates. ko/mcs