Marchena has no replacement due to the blockage in the courtroom where politicians are tried.

MadridNegotiations are at a standstill, but the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Isabel Perelló, is making moves to try to unblock the election of Manuel Marchena's replacement as president of the second chamber of the Supreme Court, the criminal chamber. The president of the court on October 1st left office when his term ended last December, and since then the acting president of the Supreme Court's criminal chamber is Andrés Martínez Arrieta, the most senior member, who is retiring in two years. He is the preferred candidate of the conservative bloc, and his rival is Ana Ferrer, the candidate promoted by the progressive group that He disagrees with the vast majority of his colleagues regarding the application of the amnesty..

This vote was scheduled for this Tuesday, and also to elect the president of the administrative litigation chamber, with the names of Pilar Teso and Pablo Lucas on the table. The first is the favorite of the progressive blog, and he is the favorite of the conservative one. But Perelló withdrew them due to the lack of agreement. Negotiations for these two key elections have been stalled for months: last week, the new presidents of the first chamber, the civil one (Ignacio Sancho, who had no competitor), and the fourth, the social one (Concepción Ureste, from the PSOE-affiliated association Judges for Democracy), were elected, but there is no agreement for the chambers that are considered most relevant. Especially the criminal one, which is the one that is responsible for judging the Attorney General of the State, as well as members of the Spanish government, Congress, and the Senate.

"There's no room for error," sources from both blocs assured on Monday. Some members assumed that Perelló would eventually withdraw the votes from the agenda. "It could be, yes," confirmed those at the top of the judges' governing body. The problem was that a failed vote could make it necessary to restart the process of selecting the candidates. Thus, the president of the CGPJ sought to pressure the conservative and progressive groups to act and try to unblock the situation. Even if there isn't a vote, the image that remains this Tuesday is one of division between both sectors, and a certain climate for them to get their act together. "We are working; it's complicated," emphasized those from the CGPJ.

The Second Chamber, the countervailing power of the Constitutional Court

The official argument that hinders an agreement is a conflicting interpretation of the gender parity that must exist in appointments. The progressive sector believes that this must be adhered to in all five chamber presidencies and therefore defends the candidacies of Ferrer and Teso, while the conservatives are not so strict. However, the underlying reason lies in the political affinities of each candidate. Basically, the judicial right does not want to assume that someone like Ana Ferrer, who cast a dissenting vote against applying the amnesty to Carles Puigdemont, would take over from Manuel Marchena in a chamber that is currently completely at odds with the Constitutional Court presided over by Cándido Conde-Pumpido. It remains to be seen what leeway she would have to change her views, given that it is composed of a large number of conservative judges who are fighting for the non-application of the rule to exiles.

However, there was no conflict in approving around twenty appointments to other courts this Tuesday. The most notable were the presidencies of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ): Jesús María Chamorro in the Asturias Court, Celso Rodríguez in the Madrid Court, and Manuel Luna in the Murcia Court. The first two are repeating their terms. The members also appointed twelve presidencies of the administrative and labor courts in different superior courts, as well as of the provincial courts of Zamora and Huelva. In addition, four positions were appointed to the military jurisdiction. In total, the CGPJ, renewed last summer, has now made 102 appointments.