The National Council of the Magistracy chose the three missing judges for the Supreme Court of Justice from a preselection of 25 candidates apparently made in a luncheon on the previous day, Thursday, 12 September. The televised session held at the National Palace on Friday lasted less than four hours. Dario Fernandez Espinal (expert in labor matters proposed by the Supreme Court of Justice and the Coalition for an Independent Justice), Jose Enrique Hernandez Machado (apparent choice of the PRD) and Pedro Romero Confesor (apparent choice of the PRSC) were elected. Supreme Court judge Eglys Margarita Esmurdoc was chosen second vice president of the Supreme Court of Justice. She had been proposed by the president of the Chamber of Deputies Rafaela Alburquerque (PRSC-San Pedro de Macoris). Lawyer Jottin Cury, commenting for CDN Radio and TV commented on the superficial questioning of the candidates, contrasting with the 1997 more than a month long debates to choose the initial 16 judges. Fernando Ferrand of the El Caribe newspaper commented that the 4-minute interviews to the judges were limited to questions such as: “What is the color of the white horse of Napoleon and “what is the color of the black horse of Napoleon.” Political news analysts say that the session confirmed that political sectors had dealt among themselves the new judges. Former district attorneys Guillermo Moreno and Francisco Dominguez Brito and Francisco Alvarez, spokesman for Coalicion para una Justicia Independiente, coincided in their opinion that the election was a step back for Dominican justice. Moreno said that political affinities prevailed in the choice of two of the judges. Romero Confesor had been objected on grounds of being partisan to former President Joaquin Balaguer. Hoy newspaper points out today in a page 2 Coctelera commentary that political persons turned into Supreme Court judges can put aside politics and become good judges as experience has shown. President of the Supreme Court of Justice Jorge Subero Isa called the election “a magnificent choice and we are pleased to have fulfilled our duty.”
