No civil input into choosing judges – presidency

THE HOPES of civil society that there would be citizen input into the selection of new judges for the Supreme Court were dashed on Thursday, February  1 with an announcement that The Cabinet Council would choose the replacements of the magistrates Oydén Ortega and Jerónimo Mejía, without a citizen participation mechanism.

“The president [Juan Carlos Varela] already said yesterday that he was going to use his constitutional power, “said  Minister of the Presidency, Álvaro Alemán on Thursday, February 1.

A day earlier, at a public event in Darién, asked about a call for public consultation, Varela said that there was no time “for that”.

The Ortega and Mejía’s  10-year terms expired last December, but they have been obliged to remain in office until their replacements arrive.

Two earlier candidates appointed by the Cabinet – the anti-corruption prosecutor Zuleyka Moore and the specialist lawyer in banking law, Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak- were not ratified by the National Assembly.