NewsWhore
01-04-2011, 03:30 PM
The ruling PLD party will control the National Council of Magistracy (CNM), the body responsible for selecting the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and the new Constitutional Court, reports Listin Diario.
This is especially relevant because the new judges could be invited to express their opinions if the push for a referendum aimed at enabling President Leonel Fernandez to be the PLD candidate in the 2012 presidential election goes ahead. Consecutive Presidential election is banned in the 2010 Constitution.
The biased support of the PLD would come in handy. The 2010 Constitution creates the figure of the referendum, but specifies the instances when it can be used, and these do not include the consecutive re-election of the President. But a final decision on the matter could come from the Supreme Court of Justice and the new Constitutional Court, with judges appointed by the Fernandez government and the PLD ruling party itself.
As reported in Listin Diario, the National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) has to choose the judges of the new Constitutional and Electoral courts and the new members of the Supreme Court of Justice by 26 January, as many members are over 75 and due for retirement.
With the exception of the member of a party different from that of the president of the Chamber of Deputies (that is the PLD), Hugo Nunez of the PRD, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice Julio Subero Isa (who has been known to side with the government on many contradictory decisions in the past), and a member elected by that court, all the other members of the CNM are members of the ruling PLD.
The CNM will also decide who will preside the Supreme Court of Justice, the first and second substitute.
The new Constitution orders that Supreme Court Justice judges should be elected for seven years. After that term their work will be evaluated by the CNM to decide whether they will be re-confirmed in their posts or replaced.
www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2011/1/4/172223/Magistratura-estara-bajo-control-oficial (http://www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2011/1/4/172223/Magistratura-estara-bajo-control-oficial)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
This is especially relevant because the new judges could be invited to express their opinions if the push for a referendum aimed at enabling President Leonel Fernandez to be the PLD candidate in the 2012 presidential election goes ahead. Consecutive Presidential election is banned in the 2010 Constitution.
The biased support of the PLD would come in handy. The 2010 Constitution creates the figure of the referendum, but specifies the instances when it can be used, and these do not include the consecutive re-election of the President. But a final decision on the matter could come from the Supreme Court of Justice and the new Constitutional Court, with judges appointed by the Fernandez government and the PLD ruling party itself.
As reported in Listin Diario, the National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) has to choose the judges of the new Constitutional and Electoral courts and the new members of the Supreme Court of Justice by 26 January, as many members are over 75 and due for retirement.
With the exception of the member of a party different from that of the president of the Chamber of Deputies (that is the PLD), Hugo Nunez of the PRD, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice Julio Subero Isa (who has been known to side with the government on many contradictory decisions in the past), and a member elected by that court, all the other members of the CNM are members of the ruling PLD.
The CNM will also decide who will preside the Supreme Court of Justice, the first and second substitute.
The new Constitution orders that Supreme Court Justice judges should be elected for seven years. After that term their work will be evaluated by the CNM to decide whether they will be re-confirmed in their posts or replaced.
www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2011/1/4/172223/Magistratura-estara-bajo-control-oficial (http://www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2011/1/4/172223/Magistratura-estara-bajo-control-oficial)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)