More than 20 nongovernmental organizations and famous persons from the field of law called on Parliament to announce a contest and to immediately select and name two persons to the vacancies of Constitutional Court judge. The representatives of the NGO consider that this process is intentionally delayed as they want the judges to be named according to political criteria, IPN reports.
In a news conference on March 19, Vlad Gribincea, chairman of the Legal Resource Center of Moldova, said that in February, after the terms in office of four Constitutional Court judges expired, two of the judges were to be named by Parliament and two by the Supreme Council of Magistrates. The Council chose two candidates at a contest, while Parliament didn’t even start to select candidates.
Vlad Gribincea said that at least two public calls to Parliament to announce the contest have been made until now. “21 NGOs and personalities from the field of law ask Parliament to immediately announce a contest to fill the two vacancies, to publish information about the persons who apply to take part in the contest on time, to publish the CVs of these candidates on the Parliament’s website, to organize public meetings to question the candidates, to pass justified decisions, and to amend the legislation,” he stated.
The signatory organizations consider that the non-election by Parliament of the two judges represents defiance of the authority of the Constitutional Court and the rule of law. Vlad Gribincea said they got the impression that the judges are not appointed so as to name them afterward quickly and according to political criteria “We consider that the naming of candidates according to political criteria is against Moldova’s European aspirations. The best candidates must enter the Constitutional Court, regardless of the political preferences of Parliament,” he said.
The tenures of Valeria Sterbet, Dumitru Pulbere, Victor Puscas, and Elena Safaleru expired on February 23. Under the law, the new judges are to be named within 15 days. Two of the six Constitutional Court judges are appointed by Parliament, two by Government, and two by the Supreme Council of Magistrates.
