28 November, 2017
Candidates for the office of the chairs of courts have to be eligible for this position, but it is not that they always have to be other people – with such a motivation the Council for the Judiciary has already repeatedly supported the amendments to the Law "On Judicial Power" that would remove the restriction for one and the same person to serve as chair of the district (city) or regional court more than two terms in a row.
After the Saeima's vote on amendments to the law "On Judicial Power", the State President has not passed the law, but asks for its reconsideration in connection with the abolition of the limitation on number of terms of office of chairs of courts.
In response to the invitation of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Saeima for the Council for the Judiciary to express an opinion on the State President's objections, the Council for the Judiciary re-decided to abolish the current limitation provided for in the law.
The proposed amendments do not allow the chair of district (city) or regional court to occupy the position “for life” because, at the end of each five-year term, a vacancy for office of the chair of the court is announced and any judge of a particular court can apply. In addition, along with judicial territorial reform, with the decreasing number of district (city) courts, but with the increase in the number of judges in one court, competition for the vacancy of the chair is expected to increase.
The Council for the Judiciary adopted the decision in the sitting of 27 November 2017 in a written procedure.
Information prepared by
Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court
E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211