Wintr, Baxa & Zemanova All Gain Senate Approval To Join Constitutional Court

The Senate approved the nominations for Jan Wintr (64 votes), Josef Baxa (63 votes) and Daniela Zemanova (59 votes) to join the Constitutional Court after three judges retired in May. Each of the three candidates won the backing of a comfortable majority of the upper house members (79 out of 81 were present), even as the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee last week refused to recommend Baxa and Zemanova for the vacant posts.

• The secret ballot was preceded by a speech from President Petr Pavel, who explained his choice of the candidates and presented them to the Senate. He also outlined his plan to present candidates "from different areas of the legal world" as the top court's line-up undergoes a major shake-up this year.
• The vote was the first test of President Petr Pavel's ability to push his initiatives through parliament. Nominating candidates for constitutional judges (pending Senate approval), Supreme Court justices and Bank Board members is one of the few prerogatives that sit with the largely ceremonial Czech presidency.
• Following the approval of the three candidates, the Senate also gave a nod to amendments to military legislation, which included a commitment to spending at least 2% of GDP on national defence starting from next year. This will bring Czechia's defence spending in line with NATO requirements.