Pellegrini: Latest top court chair election failure indicates state of judiciary

The failure of a third attempt to elect the Supreme Court chair attests to the state of the judiciary in Slovakia and to the fact that its self-cleansing mechanisms have not had much effect, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini told a news conference on Tuesday, adding that friendships should be set aside during the election and that the decision should be based on proficiency and morals alone. "The voting was balanced, with neither candidate gaining a higher number of votes," Pellegrini said. "Maybe this says something about the state of the judiciary, which until now has been sending out 'spicy' messages against the executive, stating that it's self-sufficient, living in its own shell and that we shouldn't worry about it, as it's able to take care of itself. Now it's been shown that it probably hasn't worked that well, that our judiciary's self-cleansing mechanisms haven't worked."