It did not have a candidate in election that ended up electing contenders from three lists.
It did not have a candidate in the race but Kirchnerism was the main winner of yesterday’s elections of judges that sought to gain a seat at the Magistrates Council, the body in charge of the selection and removal of judges.
Federal Judge Luis María Cabral, the head of the Magistrates Association, yesterday won 46 percent of the votes but that was not enough to retain the two councillors that the Maroon List he leads currently has on the Council.
Bariloche Federal Judge Leónidas Moldes garnered 27 percent of the votes whereas the progressive candidate, Gabriela Vázquez, won 26 percent. Judges have a total of three seats in the Council and starting next year they will be represented by three councillors of different political colours.
“This is a great election for us,” a source linked to one of the Kirchnerite councillors told the Herald yesterday, soon after the results were revealed.
The Maroon list — which leads the Magistrates Council — used to have two councillors, Ricardo Recondo and Alejandro Sánchez Freytes, whereas the Light-Blue list had one, Mario Fera. Recondo and Sánchez Freytes, who is the current head of the Magistrates Council, usually voted against Kirchnerite proposals, forming part of the opposition bloc. Fera was usually seen as an ally.
“We wanted to get two seats for the Maroon List but the other two lists obtained a similar amount of votes,” Cabral told the Herald last night. “Now we’ll have to work in order to reach consensus between the judges who are councillors in order to prevent any of them from getting closer to the other interests represented in the Council,” the head of the Magistrates Association added.
Kirchnerites see the new Council’s distribution as a positive scenario.
“Judges will be divided and it will be easier for us to negotiate,” a source said. “Since a single force will not hold the majority, they will not have a single clear spokesman,” he added.
Different forces
Moldes got the second slot but despite coming from an inland province, he did not have a good performance there.
Moldes used to be a member of the Light-Blue list but shortly after Vázquez was appointed to head the ticket he decided to launch his own candidacy and to lead the Judicial Commitment list. Moldes is a well-known judge in Bariloche, where he had to deal with the extradition of Nazi criminal Erich Priebke. Moldes was also harshly criticized by human rights organizations for convicting teacher Marina Schifrin to three months in prison for blocking a road as part of a protest in which she was demanding better working conditions.
In April, Moldes raised eyebrows among human rights groups when he interrupted a prosecutor who was in the middle of his summation in a trial for crimes committed in the clandestine detention centre known as La Escuelita (Little School) in Neuquén province and did not let him finish his train of thought. The prosecutor was referring to the role judges played during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. In a column published in Clarín last week, Moldes placed judicial independence as his main concern.
Kirchnerites see Moldes as a possible opposition councillor, although though some sources insisted they were on good terms with both him and with Cabral.
Last year, Cabral harshly opposed the so-called judicial democratization package sponsored by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
In July, the president announced the bill to create consumer rights’ courts and Cabral was in the audience at the Pink House. His presence there was seen as a sign that a cease-fire had been reached, something confirmed by Kirchnerites but denied by Cabral.
Vázquez was yesterday celebrating when the Herald managed to get her on the phone.
“The good thing is that the Maroon List will no longer be hegemonic in the Council,” the member of the Labour Appeals Court yesterday said in conversation with the Herald.
According to Cabral, Vázquez is indirectly linked to Legitimate Justice, the association that sponsors the judicial reform and has good ties with the Kirchnerite administration. Kirchnerite sources told the Herald that they had good dialogue with Vázquez.
Next step
Tomorrow, lawyers from the provinces will go to the polls to choose who is going to replace lawyer Daniel Ostropolsky, a former Radical party member who was on good terms with Kirchnerites as well.
Also tomorrow, Councillors are expected to meet in order to discuss who is going to replace late La Plata Federal Judge Manuel Blanco. Justice Secretary Julián Álvarez sponsors judicial secretary Laureano Durán to take Blanco’s place at Court Number 1, which deals with the province’s electoral roll and also investigates human rights violations. Laureano Durán is the son of late Judge Alberto Durán, who was reportedly linked to the Buenos Aires provincial police.
On Monday, La Plata Appeals Court backed Durán’s nomination but opposition councillors and judges are largely opposed to the naming of judicial secretaries to replace judges. A source told the Herald that the meeting could be postponed until next week.
buenosairesherald.com