The appointment procedures for four of the nine members of the currently dysfunctional Constitutional Court will start in the coming days.
On Saturday, the Justice Appointments Council (KED) approved the four lists of ranked candidates for the four vacancies announced by the president and the parliament – two vacancies by each.
KED is expected to send the first list to the president next week.
According to the Constitution, the president will be the first to appoint a Constitutional Court member from the list presented by the KED. He can appoint any of the first three candidates in the list.
After their evaluation, the KED has ranked the candidates for the president as follows:
1) Arta Vorpsi
2) Elsa Toska
3) Besnik Muçi
4) Regleta Panajoti
The president will have 30 days to appoint a judge. If he fails to do so, the candidate ranked first in the list will be appointed automatically.
The second Constitutional Court member is elected by the parliament. The KED list for the parliament has the following ranking of judges:
1) Arta Vorpsi
2) Fiona Papajorgji
3) Elsa Toska
The parliament also has 30 days to elect one of the first three judges in the list as Constitutional Court member. In case it fails, the first candidate is appointed automatically.
The third Constitutional Court member should be elected by the High Court, which has been dysfunctional since March this year, and therefore it won’t be able to exercise its constitutional duty before it gets operating.
The Constitutional Court members shall be appointed on rotation basis, respectively by the President, parliament and High Court, until all nine seats are filled.
