MEMBERS of the Judicial Council have elected their colleague Ján Vanko to the post of deputy chairman of the body.
Vanko, who is a member of the council, received the votes of all the remaining 16 Judicial Council members. He abstained from voting, the TASR newswire reported.
The council was left without a deputy chair following recent personnel changes sponsored by President Andrej Kiska. Shortly after his inauguration in mid-June, the president decided to replace three members of the council, including former deputy chair Mária Bujňáková.
Having been voted in, Vanko said that his ambition as deputy chair will be to ensure that a new head of the body is selected as soon as possible. The Judicial Council has been without one since late June, when the tenure of Štefan Harabin expired.
In addition, the members of the council decided at the meeting that a new vote on a new Judicial Council chair will be held in Bratislava instead of the village of Špišské Hrabušice in Prešov Region, a venue originally selected by Harabin while he was still in the office. Vanko himself proposed this change, TASR wrote.
A new vote needs to be held following the failed attempt in May to select a new head, who currently also serves as chair of the Supreme Court.
Also discussed at the session were certain changes to the Judicial Council’s procedural rules associated with the fact that the council has been lacking both a chair and deputy chair. Nevertheless, the proposal was withdrawn, as suggested by council member Ján Klučka. He argued that it is pointless to debate any changes at the moment, as the procedural rules will most likely need to undergo further alterations due to the constitutional amendment involving changes in the judiciary. Among the changes in the constitutional amendment is to have separate people as the heads of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
