Controversy in the legislature over the election of three alternative judges of the Supreme Court

Among the allegations made by PCN representatives were that it was “illegal” for three lawyers to fill three vacant positions as alternate judges of the Supreme Court; The Legislature carried out the nominee and public oath of office of the new officers.

Representatives of PCN, Eileen Romero, Francisco Merino, Ronaldo Cardoza and Raல்l Peltron Ponila have strongly questioned their legislator, Mario Ponce, for choosing one of the three judges scheduled to be sworn in by the legislature on Friday.

Deputy Cardoza said he did not know who would be elected on this day, so he asked to continue reading the ballot.

“We have to acknowledge that we are facing a situation full of malpractices. I am very sorry that you are a colleague of the PCN party. You have a completely different attitude towards others. What is going to happen is that you have no respect at least to comment on who the nominees are, which is similar to other political forces. But continuing this practice is already flawed because we want to make it clear that they want to change the vote (votes) for Deputy Patricia Valdiviso (Arena) because Cardosa voted, because they are beginning to see who they can arbitrarily change, “Merino attacked.

However, Ponce explained that the opinion had come from the same cast as had been voted on since the beginning of November, “they had to let us know who the Fractional Leader was, but yesterday he did not appear, I do not see any obligation given to me by the Constitutional Commission and the full session, the Constitution and the Constitution. I follow the regulations sent to me, which reflects the vote of the political commission, a concept with the respective signatures, and the last and only one with the power to decide whether or not to vote on that opinion is the full session, ”Bones argued.

Representatives of the Political Commission yesterday issued a referendum on the appointment of alternate judges of the Supreme Court (CSJ), advocates Alfredo Ricberto Mendes Peralta, Oscar Antonio Canales Cisco and David Omar Molina Zepeda.

The posts to be filled by the new officers were vacant. The names of the new alternative judges were taken from a list of projects proposed by the National Judicial Council (CNJ) and the El Salvador Bar Association (FedEs) in March 2012 and May 2018.

Attorney Montez Perralda will complete the term of the alternative magistrates selected in 2012 until June 30, 2021.

Also: The National Council of Judiciary begins the interview process with 62 interested judges of the Supreme Court

Following the unconstitutional declaration of the 2016 election by the Constituent Assembly as CSJ’s replacement judge, Ricardo Iglesias Herrera will be replaced by Montes Peralta.

The Constituent Assembly declared his candidacy illegal “because of the proven material contact he had with the political party” FMLN.

“Because this is a jurisdiction, it violates the policy of judicial independence and the policy of representative and republican democracy, which is recognized in Articles 172, 3 and 85, paragraph 1, respectively, of Article 218 of the Constitution, which states that civil servants belong to the service of the state, but by a firm political body. Not ”.

Attorneys Canales Cisco and Molina Zepeda are due to complete their term as CSJ’s alternate judges until 2024, as they will join the selected magistrates in 2015.

One of the positions to be filled in the High Court by the time it expires in September 2024 was left by current Attorney General Raul Melara, who asked the legislature to remove him from office in 2017 as he ran as a candidate for the attorney general’s office.

On November 4, 2020, the Political Commission ruled in favor of selecting attorneys Mendes Perralda, Canales Cisco and Jaime Edwin Martinez Ventura; The latter served as director of the National Academy of Public Security (ANSP) in FMLN governments.

The opinion reached the full session, but returned to the scrutiny of the Political Commission, however, in the comments approved yesterday, the lawyer Martinez Ventura was replaced by Molina Zepeda.

President Naib Bukhale spoke on his Twitter account about the new appointments.

“Outgoing delegates are trying to elect Supreme Court justices, and before the new legislature, elected Salvadorian people are entering. We will wait for the condemnations of” defenders of democracy and the institution, “Buckell wrote.

In this regard, Arena Vice President Rene Portillo Quadra explained this Friday that the current legislature is responsible for appointing the 2012 and 2015 generation judges and does not have the authority to issue a veto order to President Buccaneer.

“The incumbents who are going to take office today in the legislature are from the third place To be appointed by this Legislature. There is no constitution, and the legislature, which takes office on May 1, is responsible for selecting its third term in a timely manner, ”said Portillo Quadra.

Representatives of the Political Commission decided this Thursday to appoint alternative judges to the Supreme Court, which has been pending since 2016.

It is noteworthy that the new legislature, which has a majority of elected representatives from the new Ideas party representing the government, will have the key to electing CSJ’s proprietary judges, who took office in 2012. .

Five judges need to be replaced. They are: Doris Loos Rivas Kalindo, Magistrate of the Criminal Court; Jose Armando Pineda Navas, Judge of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of the Constituent Assembly; Ovidio Bonilla Flores, first member of the Sala de lo Civil; Jose Roberto Arcuda Manzano, the first member of the criminal chamber; And Elsie Tunas de Avilas, chairman of the executive lawsuit.