The appeal was filed in August by MP Haik Vartanyan. He asked the Court to check the constitutionality of the provision contained in Article 9 of the new Law on the Constitutional Court, according to which a CC judge can hold office for two consecutive terms.
The author of the appeal also pointed out the alleged legislative gaps, in particular:
- The absence of a single open competition for the selection of CC judges;
- absence of an independent commission for the selection of candidates;
- absence of a mandatory procedure for integrity testing (vetting);
- the absence of a ban on the appointment as CC judges of persons who have been members of political parties or held public office in the last three years.
The Court pointed out that the term of office of judges does not coincide with the terms of mandates of political authorities, which is “an additional guarantee of their independence”. In this regard, the norm on the possibility of two mandates does not contradict the Constitution.
“Yes, the Venice Commission recommended Moldova to consider the possibility of either extending the mandate of judges or introducing one single mandate, but this would require amending the Constitution,” Justice Domnica Manole said.
The Court president also said that the need for a single public competition and an independent commission for the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court “do not follow from the provisions of the Constitution”. Likewise, the mandatory procedure of vetting of judges “does not follow from it”.
With regard to membership in political parties, the Constitutional Court stated: “Mere membership in a political party in the past cannot be considered incompatible with the office of judge, provided that the person renounces the membership before taking the oath of office”. And imposing an outright ban would be “too harsh.”
It should be reminded that earlier the Constitutional Court received a similar appeal from Diana Karaman and Vladimir Voronin. They also asked the Constitutional Court to check the constitutionality of a number of articles of the law on the Constitutional Court, arguing that some provisions might violate the independence of the court, the principle of separation of powers and other constitutional principles.
In the spring of this year, the Moldovan Parliament adopted a new law on the Constitutional Court with the votes of the ruling PAS party. In particular, it provides for new rules for the appointment of judges. Based on the provisions of the new law, at a special session of the Parliament on August 17, the following judges were appointed: from the side of the Parliament – Liuba Şova and Nicolae Rosca (by PAS votes), from the side of the Government – Domnica Manole and Sergiu Litvinenco, from the Supreme Council of Magistracy – Ion Malanciuc. Three of them were appointed for the second consecutive term.
It should be noted that a single opposition draft law is in the legislative procedure, authored by Diana Karaman, Inga Sibova, Veaceslav Nigai, Victoria Cazacu and Vladimir Voronin, with Olesia Stamate as the responsible author. The draft proposes to amend the Law on the Constitutional Court and to introduce a public and transparent procedure for the selection of candidates for the position of Constitutional Court judge, with the analysis of documents, interviews and motivation of the decisions taken.
