Members of the progressive wing of the CGPJ maintain their candidate for the TC and include him in the extraordinary plenary session on Tuesday

The conservative block keeps Tolosa and changes Lucas for Segoviano to persuade the progressive wing

MADRID, 23 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The members of the progressive wing of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) have agreed to keep their candidate for the Constitutional Court -- Supreme Court magistrate José Manuel Bandrés -- and have included his name on the agenda of the extraordinary plenary session will be held on Tuesday 27, at 4:30 p.m., to elect the two magistrates that correspond to designate the governing body of judges for the guarantee court.

As reported this Friday by the CGPJ, the members Roser Bach, Mar Cabrejas, Álvaro Cuesta, Clara Martínez de Careaga, Concepción Sáez and Pilar Sepúlveda and the interim president of the body, the member Rafael Mozo, have registered this morning the candidacy of Bandrés, that in the previous vote he collected 7 votes, all that the progressive wing could cast.

The progressive bloc thus maintains the position that it already revealed on November 3. Bandrés will measure himself again - as he already did without success last Tuesday - against two candidates from the conservative wing.

The sources of the organ of the judges consulted by Europa Press recall that until the very beginning of the extraordinary plenary session, other candidates may be proposed.

For the last extraordinary plenary session -- on December 20 --, the members of the progressive wing presented their names against the candidates proposed by the conservative sector: the also Supreme Court magistrates César Tolosa and Pablo Lucas -- who was part of the list Initial of 9 names that the progressive sector itself shuffled--.

Next Tuesday, however, the name of Bandrés will be on the table in front of that of Tolosa --who repeats-- and that of the retired Supreme Court magistrate María Luisa Segoviano --who was also on the initial list of 9 names of the wing progressive--. It should be remembered that Tolosa was already one of those voted in the extraordinary plenary session last Tuesday, also at the request of the conservative members, obtaining only their 10 votes, one less than necessary.

It was yesterday, Thursday, when the CGPJ agreed in its ordinary plenary session that it would hold an extraordinary conclave on Tuesday, December 27, to carry out a second vote in order to elect its two candidates for the Constitutional Court. As reported by the body, it was agreed at the proposal of six of the ten members that make up the conservative sector of the CGPJ, who has been the one who has proposed Tolosa and Segoviano as candidates.

The same sources indicate that, including a progressive name in their tandem (first Lucas and now Segoviano), the conservative wing wants their counterparts to resign Bandrés, another TC magistrate on whom conservative members have imposed a tacit veto.

In this context, Bandrés's candidacy is perceived as the main stumbling block in negotiations that ran aground on December 2 because both sectors continue to be locked in their respective positions.

The conservative members seek to resolve the issue of the appointments to the TC before the reform devised by the Government - now paralyzed but which could be processed through another parliamentary channel until it is approved next year - is consumed.

The sources explain that the rush that has arisen in the conservative sector is due to the fact that the aforementioned reform will change the voting system favoring the two candidates with the most votes, with which one of each block would emerge victorious, in the case of the current progressive: Bandrés.

The current rules impose a three-fifths majority (11 votes) to send candidates to the Constitutional Court and allow each of the 18 members that currently make up the CGPJ to propose and vote for two applicants.

Until now, the balance of forces in the Council --with 8 progressive members and 10 conservatives-- has made an agreement impossible. In the December 20 vote, the two nominees for the majority sector, Tolosa and Pablo Lucas, obtained 10 votes, while Bandrés obtained 7.

The member Enrique Lucas had to abstain from that first vote, because his brother - also a Supreme Court magistrate - was one of the candidates, which subtracted one vote from Bandrés.

The TC has been waiting since June 12 for the four magistrates who make up the third that the Constitution mandates to replace the Government and CGPJ to be renewed: Pedro González-Trevijano and Antonio Narváez, appointed in their day by the Executive of Mariano Rajoy; and Juan Antonio Xiol and Santiago Martínez-Vares, appointed at the time by the governing body of the judges.

The legal doubts about the possibility that the two Moncloa candidates could take office without waiting for the two from the CGPJ led to the promotion and approval last July in Parliament of an express reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) to return to the Council his power to appoint his two applicants to the court of guarantees.

In this context, PSOE and Unidas Podemos designed the aforementioned reform, which, in addition to changing the voting system in the CGPJ, clears the obstacles for those nominated by the Government on November 29, the former Minister of Justice Juan Carlos Campo and the former high office of Moncloa Laura Díez, can take office as magistrates of the TC without having to wait for the two from the Council.