Poland's parliament elects judges to key judicial body
Poland's parliament has elected 15 judges to the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), a body responsible for safeguarding judicial independence, in a vote boycotted by the main opposition party.
The lower house of parliament (the Sejm), elects 15 judges to the National Council of the Judiciary on Friday.Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
The vote passed by 235 in favour to 18 against, clearing the required three-fifths majority of 155.
Thirteen of the judges were nominated by the governing coalition parties, while one each was put forward by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and the Confederation.
PiS MPs boycotted the vote, citing a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal which had ordered parliament to suspend the process pending a legal challenge filed by the party.
The coalition proceeded regardless, with the speaker dismissing the tribunal's intervention.
The 13 coalition nominees had been endorsed at assemblies of judges across the country ahead of the parliamentary vote.
The process was not provided for in law, but the government had announced it as a fallback after President Karol Nawrocki vetoed legislation that would have restored judges' right to elect their own KRS representatives.
Under the existing law, introduced under PiS, the list of candidates must include at least one nominee from every parliamentary group, which is why candidates from PiS and the Confederation were included despite the ruling coalition's majority.
The council was overhauled by the previous PiS government in 2018, placing the selection of its judicial members in the hands of parliament rather than the judiciary itself.
That change has been found by Polish and European courts to undermine judicial independence.
Reforming the KRS was a central pledge of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition when it took power in December 2023.
(ał)
Source: PAP