The representatives of the coalition and the opposition disagree on whether the Election of Constitutional Judges should be public or not. According to Justice Minister Gábor Gál of the coalition Most-Híd party, the public hearings are more important than the question of whether the vote is secret or public. The constitution gives the parliament the possibility of choosing from both options. The hearings are set to start on January 23 and are expected to take three days. The MP from the opposition Freedom and Solidarity party. Ľubomír Galko believes that if the election is not public, all the hearings will be pointless. "We're accountable to voters in Parliament, and voters have the right to know how I voted," said Galko.
Erik Tomáš, MP of the largest governing Smer-SD party is convinced that a secret vote would be in the tradition of developments following the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Slovakia, and replacing it with a public vote would be a step backwards. The Constitutional Committee chairman Robert Madej also of Smer-SD believes that judges of the Constitutional Court should be elected in a secret ballot, as he views it as the most democratic method.
"A public election is fully democratic because in a democracy, MPs should answer for their votes to the public," stated the Via Juris non-governmental organisation. According to Veronika Remišová, MP of the opposition Ordinary People party it is hard to believe that an MP running for the post of Constitutional Judge would decide impartially and objectively as they might be passing decisions on laws which they voted for as MPs.
The debate on the election of Constitutional Judges gained in controversy after the nomination of the former Prime Minister Robert Fico. The term of office for nine of the 13 Constitutional Court judges is due to expire in February. In late January, Parliament should elect 18 candidates and propose them to the president, who should subsequently appoint nine of them. The Constitutional Judges will be elected for a twelve year term.
