June 23, 2009, 9:28 CET
MPs elect Supreme Court chief justice after year-long drama
Parliament elected András Baka as Supreme Court chief justice with 309 affirmative votes and 36 dissensions on Monday afternoon.
The House was voting on the former Hungarian judicial representative at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights for the third time. President László Sólyom first nominated Baka in May 2008, then last month and finally last Tuesday, after the unsuccessful vote of the previous day.
In all 369 MPs took up a ballot slip, and 367 voted. Of these 345 were valid: 309 affirmative and 36 dissenting, meaning that Baka received the two-thirds support from MPs necessary for his election.
"Baka being chief justice will have a beneficial effect on the public climate in the next six years, Sólyom told journalists in Parliament on Monday, adding that "a problem that had shamefully been dragging on for a year has now been solved." Baka said he wants to see a more open and efficient judicial system.
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Obviously a secret voting, so we cannot judge the MPs if they voted for or against the person who will take the most important judicial position in Hungary.
That is a shame and scandal.
Why should not MPs be responsible for this voting?
If they had done that, then Baka probably would have been elected one year ago and the Hungarian Supreme Court work would have not been unduly delayed.