The Sejm committee supports the resolution on the National Council of the Judiciary. There is a declaration that the judges' voice is taken into account

The Sejm Justice Committee supported the draft resolution containing a declaration that the Sejm, when electing judges to the National Council of the Judiciary, will take into account the election results among the judiciary. It also includes an appeal to judges to participate in selecting candidates and choosing those who will represent all types of courts and levels of the judiciary.

The draft resolution together with the editorial and legislative amendments were supported by 17 members of the committee, 9 were against and no one abstained from voting.

The procedure for selecting candidates for 15 judge-members of the National Council of the Judiciary is currently underway. A candidate may nominate, among others: a group of 25 judges still adjudicating. The persons selected in this way are reported to the Speaker of the Sejm, who requests the parliamentary clubs to nominate candidates for members of the Council. Then, the relevant parliamentary committee establishes a list of 15 candidates, including at least 1 candidate nominated by each parliamentary club. Finally, the judicial members of the Council are elected for a joint 4-year term of office by the Sejm, by a 3/5 majority of votes in the presence of at least half of the statutory number of Deputies.

The draft resolution submitted by MPs from the government coalition clubs states, among others: that the Sejm ensures that “in its decisions it will take into account the results of elections made by Polish judges in universal and transparent elections”; The Sejm also appeals to judges to participate in the process of selecting candidates for Council members and selecting those who will represent all types of courts and levels of the judiciary.

The resolution is to be one of the elements of the implementation of “plan B” announced by the head of the Ministry of Justice, Waldemar Żurek, after President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the amendment to the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary, which assumed the election of judicial members of the Council by all judges, and not – as under the current regulations – by the Sejm. (PAP)

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