Competent enough. Five out of eight candidates for the CCU advance

Today, on May 2nd, the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) announced the candidates for the Constitutional Court who have passed the legal competence assessment. Out of 8 candidates, 5 received the “qualified” rating: Yuriy Barabash, Oleksandr Vodyannikov, and Serhiy Riznyk under the quota of the Verkhovna Rada, and Alla Oliynyk and Oleksandra Yanovska under the quota of the Congress of Judges.

Three candidates under the quota of the Verkhovna Rada will compete for 1 position, as the law “On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine” requires at least two candidates for each vacant position at any stage of the selection process. There are still two positions in the Constitutional Court to be filled under the parliamentary quota, so the Verkhovna Rada must announce another competition. The competition for another vacancy under the Congress of Judges’ quota has been announced, and applications are being accepted.

Next, the AGE will rank the candidates at its discretion, after which the Verkhovna Rada and the Congress of Judges will make the final appointment decisions.

It is noteworthy that candidates with the most objections have been eliminated from the competition. This is the first selection for the Constitutional Court where candidates are chosen so publicly and meticulously. Previously, the Constitutional Court was mostly composed of political appointees and delegates from the judicial corporation with serious integrity reservations. However, we will be able to assess the actual results once the competition is completed, and the newly elected judges begin their work in the Constitutional Court.

DEJURE Foundation hopes this will happen soon and encourages all willing and competent individuals to apply for the new competition for the Constitutional Court under the parliamentary quota as soon as it is announced.