Puerto Plata Senator José Ignacio Paliza agreed with the postponing of the final assessment meeting of the candidates for the four Supreme Court (SCJ) judge positions and the five Superior Electoral Court (TSE) judges and their replacements.
The judges are meeting now behind closed doors as scheduled on Wednesday, 19 July 2017, to discuss the selection process. The justices agreed to another meeting on Tuesday, 25 July 2017. Originally, the judges had said they would be announcing the new judges on Friday, 21 July.
Paliza said the ruling does not establish a fixed date for the selection of the new judges for the higher courts. Paliza represents the opposition party PRM in the National Council of the Magistracy. He said it is important to carefully evaluate candidates so that the best men and women are appointed for the SCJ and the TSE. He said both he and his colleague, Josefa Castillo, will not enter into ‘negotiations’ for the positions, but rather vote for the candidates who have demonstrated independence and will convey competency and trust to the public to deal with conflicts and other potentially thorny issues in the run-up next elections of their capacity to deal with conflicts. Paliza made the statements as part of an interview on La Súper 7 en la Mañana, de La Súper 7 (107.7 FM).
Paliza says that the PRM opposes that the present five judges of the TSE continue. The PRM has accused TSE judges Mariano Rodríguez Rijo, Mabel Féliz Báez, John Guiliani, Marino Mendoza, replacement judge Julio Cesar Madera and secretary Zeneida Severino Marte of “forgery and criminal association.”
The PRM is calling for the appointment of the judges and replacements by national consensus. The PRM criticizes that President Danilo Medina and PLD have majority among the judges that will choose the four judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and the 10 judges for the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). There is the concern that political criteria may prevail in the vote by the CNM.
The members of the CNM are President Danilo Medina, president of the Senate Reinaldo Pared Pérez, president of the Chamber of Deputies Lucía Medina, president of the Supreme Court of Justice Mariano Germán, attorney general Jean Alain Rodríguez, Supreme Court of Justice judge Frank Soto, PRM senator José Paliza and PRM deputy Josefa Castillo.
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7 Dias
19 July 2017
