Supreme Court Judges Do Not Support Any of Candidates For Supreme Court President

Zlata Đurđević, the candidate enjoying the support of President of the Republic Zoran Milanović, received one vote from all the judges attending the general session, while the other candidates received none, according to a statement issued by the Supreme Court.

The session was attended by 33 of the total of 35 judges from all departments of the Supreme Court. They discussed the candidates’ programmes and CVs and then took a vote by secret ballot.

Earlier, it was announced that Parliament will discuss the President’s nominee for Supreme Court chief  after the local elections. The law requires that a general session of the Supreme Court and the parliamentary Justice Committee also need to give their non-binding opinions on the President’s proposal.

The State Judicial Council (DSV) issued a new public call for applications on 31 March after President Milanović told the DSV that he would not propose any of the candidates who had applied in the previous call. The new call was closed on 6 May.

Insisting that the nomination of candidates was his constitutional right, Milanović proposed Đurđević as his candidate for the post of Supreme Court President in March already, but Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković refused to include the proposal on Parliament’s agenda saying that it was unlawful.

The Constitutional Court then ruled that the President of the Republic can only nominate a candidate who has responded to the DSV’s public call, saying that this does not restrict the President’s right to nominate and Parliament’s right to choose a Supreme Court President.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković later said that, although she is a criminal law professor, Đurđević had agreed to be part of an unlawful procedure and therefore she was unfit to lead the highest judicial body in the country.

Right-wing opposition groups in Parliament have also announced that they will not support Đurđević.

The term of the incumbent Supreme Court President, Đuro Sessa, expires in July. If Parliament fails to appoint a new head of the highest court by then, the position will be temporarily held by the Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Marin Mrčela.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

the fields marked with * are required

Email: *
First name:
Last name:
Gender:	Male Female
Country:
Birthday:	[DD] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 [MM] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 [YYYY] 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Please don't insert text in the box below!