Štefan Harabin failed, on May 19, in his bid to be re-elected as head of the Supreme Court and Judicial Council, the body overseeing the country's judiciary.
Harabin collected seven votes in the first round of the vote held in Sobrance, eastern Slovakia, and advanced to the second round along with Jana Bajánková, nominated by Justice Minister Tomáš Borec, who got five votes. The third candidate, Zuzana Ďurišová proposed by the For an Open Judiciary (ZOJ) group critical of Harabin, received three votes in the first round. A candidate needed at least 10 of the 16 votes of members of the Judicial Council to get elected to the post.
In the second-round run-off, Harabin got six votes only with his rival Bajánková picking five votes. The new elections should be announced within 120 days, however after twice failing in this round, neither Harabin nor Bajánková is eligible to run in this new round, the SITA newswire reported.
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
