"I hope that the political awareness for the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court (US) has matured and that a dialogue will be held in the Constitutional Committee that will result in candidates that will be decided by the Parliament," the president of the Constitutional Committee told "Vijesta" yesterday. Simonida Kordić, on the eve of the deadline for applications for the competition for the selection of judges.
Until yesterday, 23 lawyers had applied for the advertisement for the election of judges of the Constitutional Court, which expired at midnight, ten of whom had not yet participated in the fight for a position in the Constitutional Court.
According to "Vijesti" information, they applied for the competition Jovan Kojičić, Suleiman Gucci, Dragana Đuranović, Zdenka Perović, Jadranka Novaković, Azra Jasavić, Fadil R. Kardović, Sanja Maslenjak, Marijan Aković, Ivan Radojicic, Azra Cam, Jelena Ruzicic, Savo Rašović, Darko Mugoša, Snezana Armenko, Nikola Golubović, Edmond Ujkaj, Maja Šćepanović, Snežana Ionica, Faruk Resulbegović, Miomirka Tešić, Narcisa Maja Bošković i Amer Šukurica.
Kardović, Aković, Cama, Rašović, Mugoša, Golubović, Vujkaj, Resulbegović, Bošković and Šukurica were nominated for the first time.
For one candidate, this is the fifth application for the Constitutional Court, four of them applied four times, one candidate applied three times, while seven lawyers are applying for the second time.
The list of candidates is not final, considering that the Constitutional Committee has to wait for the applications sent by mail, which are often late even if they are sent by the deadline.
Kordić scheduled a meeting of the Constitutional Committee for Friday, where, as she explained to "Vijesta", a commission will be appointed to review the applications received and carry out an administrative check, i.e. determine whether the registered candidates meet the formal requirements of the competition.
"Only those who meet the competition conditions can be invited before the Constitutional Committee for a consultative hearing. We will know the final list of candidates when the commission determines who meets the requirements," she added.
She could not answer until when she expects the Board to finish its work and propose four candidates to the plenum. He states that it is very important to have a dialogue in that parliamentary body that will result in candidates that will be decided by the deputies.
"Last time, we had four candidates against whom no one had any objections. However, the opposition did not vote for any of them. The election requires political will. I also believed last time that there is no reason for her to be absent if we value candidates based on their quality. She was, however, absent, but I hope that in the meantime political awareness has matured regarding the need to elect judges", she pointed out.
President of the Assembly Danijela Đurović she announced that she will restart the parliamentary dialogue on the election of judges, but "News" from the legislative chamber could not specify when she would do that yesterday.
The Constitutional Court has been blocked since mid-September, since he has been a judge Miodrag Ilicković retired on old age. There are currently three out of a total of seven judges in the court (Desanka Lopičić, Budimir Šćepanović i Milorad Gogic), so that institution does not have a quorum for work considering that it decides by the majority of votes of all members. Several thousand items are pending...
The ad, which ended at midnight, is the sixth since August 2020. Four did not result in the determination of the list of candidates at the Board, while after the fifth, the last, the parliamentary majority proposed four lawyers to the plenum - Snežana Armenko, Ilija Vukčević, Jadranka Novaković and Jelena Ružičić. However, none of them was elected even after two rounds of voting, in October and December, and the parliamentary dialogue of the parties in between. Vukčević was the only one of the four who did not apply for the new ad. In mid-December, he was elected as the state secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
Two-thirds support (votes of at least 54 MPs) is required for election in the first round, and three-fifths support (votes of at least 49 MPs) in the second round.
As "Vijesti" wrote in December, the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) was allegedly offered to vote for the election of three judges, and to leave the fourth place for a candidate from among the minority nations, but they refused.
EU envoys threatened Montenegro at the end of December with the possibility of terminating the negotiations if all four judges are not elected by the end of January at the latest, stressing that this is the solution to get out of the political instability.
As a judge of the Constitutional Court, a person is elected from the ranks of prominent lawyers who is at least 40 years old and has 15 years of experience in the legal profession.
Professors of legal sciences, judges, state prosecutors, lawyers, notaries, lawyers who work in the state and bodies of state administration and local self-government, i.e. local administration, as well as lawyers who work in companies and legal entities, who enjoy professional and personal reputation.
Judges of the Constitutional Court are elected by the parliament for 12 years.
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