The Croatian Parliament on Saturday elected ten Constitutional Court judges, thus preventing a serious constitutional crisis as the six-month extended term for ten out of the 13 Constitutional Court judges expired at midnight last night, leaving Croatia briefly without the Court.

The judges elected today for an eight-year term are Ante Galic (115 votes in favour, 10 against), Andrej Abramovic (125 in favour), Miroslav Sumanovic (119 in favour, four abstentions), Lovorka Kusan (125 in favour), Rajko Mlinaric (120 in favour, four abstentions), Biljana Kostadinov (123 in favour), Drazen Bosnjaković (121 in favour, one abstention, three against), Sanja Bezbradica Jelavic (125 in favour), Frano Stanicic (125 in favour), and Masa Marochini Zrinski (122 in favour, two abstentions, one against).

The new judges are expected to take their official oath before the President of the Republic today, meaning they will be able to begin their duties at the start of next week.

Despite the deadline, Parliament moved the vote on the judges from Friday to Saturday after a compromise between the HDZ and SDP, without which the judges could not have been elected, as a two-thirds majority (101 votes) is required for their election.

After the SDP insisted on not participating in the vote on the judges on the same day its motion for the removal of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was scheduled to be voted on, the HDZ agreed to delay the vote on the judges, recognising that this was a “crucial issue.”

“It is important to preserve the Constitutional Court because of the upcoming presidential election, in which the Court has a role. If we had not made a decision on the election of constitutional judges, the entire process would have been legally questionable. We wanted to avoid that at all costs,” said Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic.

The HDZ said that political responsibility for the failure to elect constitutional judges on time rested solely with the SDP, while the SDP had a different view of the situation.

SDP MP and party leader Sinisa Hajdas Doncic said that the selection of constitutional judges was “deliberately sabotaged until the last moment,” clearly alluding to the HDZ.

As early as December 23 last year, Constitutional Court President Miroslav Separovic called for the commencement of the judge selection process, Hajdas Doncic recalled, emphasising that the SDP had been ready for this process for eight to nine months.