National Council of the Magistracy convened to work as of 15 May 2017 by President Danilo Medina will need to replace four judges of the Constitutional Court (TC), in addition to the five judges for the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and at least two judges of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Of the 13 judges of the Constitutional Court, four end their terms on 22 December 2017. They were elected in 2011 for a six-year term.
As reported in El Día on 27 April 2017, the National Council of the Magistracy will need to choose 13 of the 16 members of the Supreme Court of Justice. At least two of the judges will need to be replaced, while the others could be confirmed in their posts. Those that need to be replaced are judge Julio Castaños Guzmán, who resigned to take on his new responsibility as president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), and judge Martha Olga García Santamaría, given that she has reached the retirement age for judges (75 years).
The members of the Council of Magistrates of the Nation are: President Danilo Medina, Attorney General Jean-Alain Rodríguez, Supreme Court of Justice president Mariano Germán Mejía; Supreme Court of Justice judge Frank Euclides Soto Sánchez; the president of the Senate Reinaldo Pared Pérez and the president of the Chamber of Deputies Lucía Medina, both of the ruling PLD party, and opposition senator José Paliza and deputy Josefa Castillo, as representatives of the party with the second largest representation in Congress, both of the PRM.
27 April 2017
