Review article
CONDITIONS AND PROCEDURE FOR THE ELECTION OF JUDGES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
Teodor Antić
; Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia
Abstract
The paper analyzes the conditions and procedure for the election of judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia and, by describing the experience of previous elections, indicates the dilemma and issues in practice in this regard. Two key steps have been made toward a more transparent procedure of the election of the Constitutional Court judges and a higher level of their legitimacy for the last ten years: in 2002 the detailed rules of procedure were set up and in 2010 the Amendments to the Constitution stipulating that the Constitutional Court judges shall be elected by a two-thirds majority vote of all the representatives in the Croatian Parliament were adopted. However, some doubts and problems in interpretation of legal rules are still present. This is especially true of issues related to submitting the nominations, checking and verifying the due requirements for being elected a judge, legal nature of the decision on election of the Constitutional Court judges and legal protection in case of violation of a candidate's rights in electoral procedure. The author gives a number of recommendations for improvement of the electoral procedure with the aim of achieving a higher level of independency and legitimacy of the Constitutional Court judges. The author also emphasizes that the main issue in the electoral procedure must not be the question whether candidates meet legal requirements but who of them is the best i.e. better candidate.
Keywords
Constitutional Court; election of judges; elections conditions; Act of State
Hrčak ID:
145484
URI
Publication date:
30.4.2015.
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