Constitutional Court needs more judges

Senator Richard Falbr has stressed the need to fill the posts of all 15 Constitutional court judges. He said the country was experiencing a drawn-out constitutional crisis as the Constitutional Court was paralyzed by the vacancies. The controversy between President Klaus, whose task it is to nominate constitutional court judges, and the Senate, which must approve them, exploded with full force on Thursday when one of the senators accused the President of treason for his failure to produce what he called "acceptable nominees". This happened after the Senate rejected yet another candidate -Milan Gavlas - on the grounds that he had a narrow area of expertise and had spent 23 years in the communist party. Senator Falbr on Friday attempted to play down the controversy, saying that he considered the accusation of treason foolish and inappropriate and could understand the President's anger in response to the news. He said the President's next nominee Stanislav Balik was a good choice and would probably gain approval. Four out of fifteen posts of Constitutional court judges remain to be filled.