Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament's Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System on Wednesday endorsed the names of 10 candidates for the Constitutional Court.
These candidates will be debated at a plenary session of Parliament on Thursday, with a vote scheduled for Friday, just one day before the expiry of the extended deadline for the appointment of 10 Constitutional Court judges.
The candidates proposed by the ruling coalition are: Dražen Bošnjaković (former justice minister), Ante Galić (High Administrative Court judge), Rajko Mlinarić (current Constitutional Court judge), Frane Staničić (professor at the Zagreb Faculty of Law) and Miroslav Šumanović (current Constitutional Court judge).
Those proposed by the opposition are: Andrej Abramović (current Constitutional Court judge), Biljana Kostadinov (professor at the Zagreb Faculty of Law), Lovorka Kušan (current Constitutional Court judge), Maša Marochini Zrinski (professor at the Rijeka Faculty of Law) and Sanja Bezbradica Jelavić (lawyer).
The election of Constitutional Court judges requires a two-thirds majority or 101 votes. Voting is conducted secretly and individually for each candidate, with those elected serving a term of eight years.
Out of the ten candidates proposed, nine received unanimous support from the Committee members. The only exception was Ante Galić, against whom Sandra Benčić (We Can!) voted.