JURAJ Sopoliga, a judge for the Košice Regional Court, has become the sixth and last of the nominees from which the president will choose three to replace judges on the Constitutional Court (CC). The trio’s 12-year tenures expire in July and five other candidates were already chosen by parliament in April.
Watchdogs criticised the April ballot, saying that many of the candidates lacked previous experience in constitutional law.
Sopoliga, nominated by Dana Bystrianska, president of the Slovak Association of Judges (ZSS), was supported by 79 of 118 deputies present for the May 15 ballot. His rivals, constitutional judge Ján Drgonec and barrister Pavol Malich, received 14 and 12 votes, respectively, the TASR newswire reported.
Parliament has already selected five nominees for the CC judge post on April 3: Supreme Court judge Jana Baricová, Nitra Regional Court judge Ján Bernát, notary and university teacher Miroslav Duriš, Bratislava District Court chair Eva Fulcová and Košice Regional Court chairman Imrich Volkai.
