Overview
- The Venice Commission's final opinion finds that allowing Parliament to choose the 12 judicial members is vulnerable to politicization and falls short of European standards.
- It welcomes direct election by judges as meeting the 'peer selection' norm, provided safeguards are added to curb internal politicization linked to judicial associations.
- Recommended safeguards include limiting how many candidates each voter can back and guaranteeing broad representation across the judiciary to prevent corporatism.
- The government downplays the critique, maintains there is no single mandatory European model, and defends parliamentary voting as providing democratic legitimacy.
- Judicial groups AJFV and FJI urge the CGPJ to incorporate the opinion and send a reform proposal to Congress, while CGPJ sources say further action now rests with the executive and lawmakers.