Powerful groups want clarity in selection of high court judges

Santo Domingo.- The Coalition for an Independent Justice on Tuesday urged the National Magistrate Council (CNM) to evaluate those who seek benches in the Supreme Court behind open doors, as it has done with other candidates, to guarantee transparency in the selection process.

The entity, formed by the young business leaders grouped in ANJE, the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (FINJUS), Citizen Participation and the American Chamber of Commerce, said that prior to starting the second round in the selection, the CNM should draft a short list, or preselect the candidates to benches in each of the courts.

It also suggests receiving citizens’ comments and objections and to widen the evaluations and investigations of those preselected.

The Coalition added that the Superior Electoral Court’s members need to be inducted this month, because the electoral arbitration function is currently headless, especially since, it its view, hurdles to organize next May’s polls have already surfaced.