President Danilo Medina will convene a working session of the National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) starting on 15 May 2017. During the sessions, the council will need to replace at five judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, four judges of the Constitutional Court (TC) and five judges for the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
As reported in Diario Libre on 27 April 2017, the CNM will need to select or confirm 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 and Dulce Rodríguez de Goris, given that they have reached the retirement age for judges (75 years). Also, Diario Libre reports that judge Víctor José Castellanos has stated he would like to retire, citing health reasons.
Of the 13 judges of the Constitutional Court, the terms of four judges expire on 22 December 2017. These judges were elected in 2011 to serve a six-year term.
The NCM needs to choose the replacements of the five judges of the TSE: Mariano Rodríguez, Mabel Féliz Báez, José Manuel Hernández Peguero, John Guiliani, and Fausto Marino Mendoza.
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.
El Nacional reported on 27 April 2017, that six of the eight members of the CNM have very strong ties with the ruling PLD party.
28 April 2017
