Zagreb - None of the three candidates for the Constitutional Court proposed by the ruling HDZ-led majority secured the required parliamentary backing on Friday, meaning the court will continue operating with only 10 judges.
Speaker Gordan Jandroković said the parliamentary constitution committee would now have to launch a new public call for candidates.
Neither Supreme Court judge Željko Pajalić nor lawyer Mladen Sučević, both nominated by the ruling majority, secured enough support. Nor did sitting Constitutional Court judge Goran Selanec, whom HDZ officials described as the left’s preferred candidate.
Opposition lawmakers did not take part in the vote.
Sučević received 76 votes from the ruling majority, with one abstention, while Pajalić received 77 votes. In Selanec’s case, 76 ruling coalition lawmakers abstained.
The governing coalition had postponed the vote on 30 April but returned the item to parliament’s agenda today despite failing to reach agreement with the left-liberal opposition. The vote was held publicly.
Election of Constitutional Court judges requires a two-thirds majority, or 101 votes in parliament.
Left-wing opposition parties had previously said they would not support the three candidates proposed by the ruling majority without prior agreement, particularly after what they described as blackmail from Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to approve the appointments together with the election of the Supreme Court president.
Both the government and the opposition blame each other for the failure to fill the vacant positions.
The eight-year mandates of Constitutional Court president Miroslav Šeparović and judges Mato Arlović and Goran Selanec formally expired in October but were extended by six months. The extension ended on 12 April, after which the court continued operating with 10 judges instead of the full bench of 13.
A new public call for candidates is expected to delay the process by at least another month, after which parliament’s summer recess begins from 15 July to 15 September.