Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška extended the deadline for submitting candidates for the post of general prosecutor from January 18 to January 29, the TASR newswire reported, citing his spokesman Pavel Chovanec.
Paška chose to prolong the deadline due to the ongoing proceedings of the Constitutional Court, which is set to rule on whether or not such a vote can go ahead. The court's legal opinion, requested by general prosecutor-elect Jozef Čentéš, is not expected to be received by today, January 18. According to the speaker, "it is very important to have the new vote on the general prosecutor carried out properly – leaving the outcome in no doubt, unlike the previous round". In fact, the legality of the original election to which Paška referred was confirmed unequivocally by the Constitutional Court in a ruling in October 2011.
The ruling Smer party has indicated that it favours Bratislava Regional Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár, who was also recommended by the Council of Prosecutors. However, Čižnár has refused to say whether he will accept the nomination, pending a verdict from the Constitutional Court. The opposition is standing by Čentéš, who was elected to the post by parliament on June 17, 2011 but has never been formally appointed by President Ivan Gašparovič.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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