This Wednesday, parliament rejected two bills from the PAN and BE that enshrined parity in the composition of Constitutional Court judges, with MPs from the PS and PSD breaking the vote of the respective benches.
The diplomas were generally rejected with votes against by PS, Chega, IL and PCP, and positive votes by PSD, BE, PAN and Livre.
PS deputies Isabel Moreira, Alexandra Leitão, Carla Miranda, Berta Nunes, Mara Lagriminha and Maria Begonha voted for the BE initiative, breaking their group’s vote. In the PAN bill, the same female deputies, with the exception of Maria Begonha, again voted in favour, having also joined deputy Patrícia Faro.
PSD deputies Paulo Mota Pinto, Carlos Eduardo Reis, Hugo Maravilha, Pedro Nelo Lopes and Rui Vilar voted against the two diplomas, opposing the bank.
There were also numerous announcements of explanations of vote by PS and PSD deputies.
In recent weeks, the two initiatives have led to divisions within the parliamentary group of the PS, with the constitutionalist and member of the national secretariat of the PS Isabel Moreira defending them, as opposed to socialist deputies such as Cláudia Cruz Santos or Joana Sá Pereira, who serious doubts expressed constitutionality or opposition in principle to the existence of quotas in the justice sector.
This afternoon, the parliamentary leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, announced that his party would vote against the initiatives, as they violate Article 222 of the Constitution, but admitted to entrenching this principle after the process of revising the fundamental law .
The PSD, in the debate discussing the two proposals, had come out in favor of introducing gender quotas, but noted the need to clarify whether changing the rules governing the composition of the TC “is at the disposal of the ordinary legislature or if it falls in the strict question of the reservation of the Constitution”.
“If a two-thirds majority of the deputies in office is required to elect judges to the TC, it must be assessed whether, in order to change the rules governing the election of these judges, the same majority should not be necessary, under penalty of unconstitutionality” , warned Social Democrat Mónica Quintela, who believed that this issue “could be remedied in the ongoing constitutional revision process” and expressed the availability of the PSD for this purpose.
In the bills in question, BE proposed that the TC should consist of a minimum of six male and female judges, a total of 13 members.
The PAN, on the other hand, proposed a minimum representation of 40% of each gender, as well as the start of the co-option process six months before the judges’ terms of office expire and their parliamentary hearing.
Source: DN
