John Culatto
SPAIN’S constitutional court has finally allowed the appointment of four new judges proposed by the country’s centre-left government.
The PSOE-Podemos coalition in Madrid called the news a triumph for democracy as it tilted the judicial balance to the left.
The governing body of Spain’s judges and courts, the CGPJ, had blocked a government move to appoint the judges via legislative amendment.
Spain’s top court ruled in favour of the conservatives to stop the upper house of parliament from debating the bill on December 20.
The deadlock had caused a huge backlog of cases that were waiting to be tried.
As a result, the new judges will form a more progressive backbone to the country’s judicial system, creating a 7 to 4 majority.
The CGPJ submitted two of its own judges for the new list.
The timing of the constitutional court’s change of heart could not have been better for the left-wing politicians that face regional and national elections in 2023.
One of the cases that stands to be tried is a conservative challenge to a 2010 law that liberalised abortion across Spain.
The Partido Popular parliamentary opposition has opposed a number of progressive measures introduced by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
They include topical issues such as euthanasia and education.
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