Bill to let judges choose the judicial members of the judges' council

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1. The bill would change how the twelve council members who come from the judiciary are chosen: instead of being picked by Congress and the Senate, they would be elected by serving judges and magistrates themselves, voting in person or by certified mail. The eight members from the lawyers' category would still be chosen by the chambers with a three-fifths majority.
2. All serving judges and magistrates could vote and run as candidates, except those who held certain political offices in the previous five years, such as minister, secretary of state, regional minister, mayor or member of parliament. Outgoing council members could not be elected either.
3. The election would use a single district for the whole country and a ballot with one open list: each voter could mark up to eight of the twelve candidates. Seats would be reserved by category (three Supreme Court magistrates, three with more than fifteen years of seniority, and six with no seniority requirement), and at least 40% of those elected would have to be women and 40% men.
4. Candidates could be put forward by individual judges (with twenty endorsements or the backing of a judicial association) or by the associations themselves, which could back one full slate or up to eight individual candidates. Each candidate would run with an alternate and would have to publish their résumé and proposals on the council's website.
5. A new electoral board would be created, chaired by the most senior chamber president of the Supreme Court, to run the whole process: proclaiming candidates, receiving mail-in votes, counting ballots and declaring the winners. Its decisions on candidacies and proclamations could be appealed to the Supreme Court.
6. The new system would apply from the call for the next renewal, three months before the current council's five-year term expires. The law would take effect the day after its publication in the official state gazette.

Who it affects

• Serving judges and magistrates: They would elect the twelve judicial members of the council, voting in person or by mail.
• Judicial associations: They could put forward full slates or endorse up to eight individual candidates.
• Distinguished legal professionals: They would still be eligible as council members chosen by Congress and the Senate, with more than fifteen years of professional practice.
• Congress of Deputies and Senate: They would stop choosing the judicial members but would keep electing the eight legal professionals.
• General Council of the Judiciary (Consejo General del Poder Judicial): It would have to approve the electoral rules by a three-fifths majority and provide support and resources for the election.

Words worth knowing

Vocal

Each of the twenty non-presiding members of the General Council of the Judiciary.

Turno judicial and turno de juristas

The two origins of council members: twelve come from the judiciary and eight are legal professionals chosen by the chambers.

Sufragio activo y pasivo

Active suffrage is the right to vote; passive suffrage is the right to run as a candidate.

Junta Electoral

The body that organizes and oversees the election: it proclaims candidates, counts the votes and declares the winners.

Recurso contencioso-administrativo

A court appeal against decisions of public bodies, in this case heard by the Supreme Court.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries