WARSAW, May 25 — Poland’s president tapped a new Supreme Court chief justice today, drawing criticism over her political affiliation with the EU country’s right-wing government.
The move follows several controversial judicial reforms, which the EU has said test the rule of law in the country by undermining judicial independence.
The reforms have been pushed ahead by the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government, which has been accused of undermining democratic standards in Poland.
President Andrzej Duda’s pick for Supreme Court chief justice, Malgorzata Manowska, immediately drew allegations of political bias from legal experts and the opposition.
The appointment of Manowska, who will oversee the judicial system, was confirmed by presidential spokesman Blazej Spychalski in a tweet Monday.
Manowska served as a justice ministry secretary of state in a previous PiS government in 2007, and Duda is himself allied with the existing PiS administration is currently seeking re-election.
“Manowska had a purely political role, and a very senior one as secretary of state,” Andrzej Zoll, a former ombudsman and constitutional court chief, told the commercial TVN24 news channel.
“This in itself is an impediment to naming her as Supreme Court chief justice.”
Manowska was the second choice of the Supreme Court justices who forwarded five chief justice candidates to Duda. Justice Wlodzimierz Wrobel received the highest support with 50 votes, while Manowska took only 25.
Although it is tradition for the president to choose the top candidate recommended by Supreme Court justices, Duda was not legally bound to do so.
Wrobel is regarded as being independent of any political affiliation to the PiS government as he was appointed to the Supreme Court before its judicial reforms.
Manowska replaces retired chief justice Malgorzata Giersdorf who had questioned the legality of PiS judicial reforms.
Poland is currently gripped by chaos over the timing of a presidential election that was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Originally scheduled for May 10, the election was delayed at the last minute when government and opposition parties failed to agree how to proceed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Parliament was still struggling this week to overcome the stalemate but senior PiS and opposition officials have said that the ballot could go ahead on June 28, before Duda’s five-year term ends on August 6th.
Fresh opinion polls suggest that Duda has lost his grip on a certain victory, threatening a political upset for the PiS which currently controls the government and parliament. — AFP
