The president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, has sent to the Senate a letter in which he warns that in December he will expire his mandate and that of three other magistrates, so the Upper House must activate the process to designate its substitutes.
Conde-Pumpido referred to the Senate last week, as reported The reason and have confirmed legal sources to Europa Press. Although the president of the Court of Guarantees usually warns the upper house four months in advance, this year has been advanced because the deadline is fulfilled on August 17, unusual date in court.
The four magistrates who will see their mandate in December are Count-Pumps himself, the magistrate of the progressive block María Luisa Balaguer and the magistrates of the conservative wing Ricardo Enriquez and José María Macías. The latter, however, may repeat and extend its mandate nine years – if it is proposed by the Senate – since it took office a year ago, replacing Judge Alfredo Montoya, who resigned for health reasons in July 2022.
Thus, the current composition of the Court – with seven progressive and five conservatives – could be affected, since two progressive and two conservatives will leave the constitutional and the Court of Guarantees must be repressed with the four new magistrates chosen by the Senate.
This choice must be agreed by a majority of three fifths (159 senators). At present, the PP has An absolute majority of 144 senators That, in any case, it forces him to have to reach an agreement with other parliamentary groups. The last time four new magistrates entered the constitutional the former conservative majority-six magistrates against five-turned a lazy progressive majority-seven against four.
The Constitutional Court consists of 12 members appointed by the King. Four of them are appointed at the proposal of the Congress by majority of three fifths of its members; four others at the proposal of the Senate, with identical majority; two at the Government's proposal, and two at the proposal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).
According to the Constitution, the Court must be renewed for thirds every three years and the magistrates designated on each occasion are chosen to fulfill their mandate for a period of nine years.
Election of a new president
Although Conde-Pumpido, Balaguer, Enriquez and Montoya were proposed by the PP and the PSOE in the Senate in March 2017, their mandates expire in December 2025 because they undertook their journey in the Constitutional with three months of delay, since they had to have been chosen in December 2016, when the mandate of the outgoing magistrates expired.
The renewal of the Constitutional would lead to the election of a new president of the Court. Conde-Pumpido assumed the position in January 2023 after obtaining six of the 11 votes at stake; The Immaculate Montalbán progressive was also chosen vice president. These appointments meant the breakdown of the unwritten norm that had been applied in recent years, according to which the presidency corresponded to the majority sector and the vice presidency, to the minority.
