The Justice Appointments Council (KED) has published the list of the 41 candidates who applied for the 8 vacancies at the Constitutional Court. Currently, the Constitutional Court is dysfunctional, with only one member left after the vetting, Vitore Tusha. Tusha’s term, however, is already over and she too needs eventually to be replaced.
Of the judges at the Constitutional Court, 3 are selected by the President, 3 by a qualified majority of Parliament, and 3 by the High Court. Currently, the opposition has vacated Parliament (although 3/5 majority seems within reach for Rama’s majority), while the High Court also has no quorum.
The lists of candidates that applied to the different vacancies of different length shows that many of them applied for more than one vacancy, such as Besnik Muçi, who also applied in the past for the High Prosecutorial Council (KLP) and is current candidate for the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecution; former Minister of Justice and widely derided former High Judicial Council (KLGj) candidate Ilir Panda; and former KLP and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) candidate Sinan Tafaj; and former Central Election Commission (KQZ) chair Denar Biba, who had tried to influence the ECtHR at the request of the Rama government.
Several of the applicants have already been vetted, but those who are not member of the judiciary will not need to pass vetting before being appointed at the highest court of the country. They will undergo a quasi-vetting by the KED.
For each of the 8 vacancies, the KED has determined by lottery a member who will review the applications and rank them. This includes KED member and Temporary General Prosecutor Arta Marku, who, ironically, will assist in the election of a new judge at the Constitutional Court that should have decided on the constitutionality of her own appointment.
