After more than three hous of voting, Colombia’s Supreme Court postponed the election of a new national prosecutor general for a ninth time, because none of the candidates received enough votes, reports El Heraldo.
Margarita Cabello Blanco continues to lead the vote as court’s preferred candidate. This time she won twelve votes, one fewer than the thirteen she won in Tuesday’s vote.
The election was postponed yet again because none of the candidates managed to obtain the sixteen votes required to be elected Colombia’s prosecutor general.
The saga of the election of a new prosecutor general has been ongoing for months, with the court unable to reach the necessary consensus.
Gabriela Carina Knaul de Albuquerque e Silva, the UN special rapporteur on judicial independence, expressed concern about the election earlier in the week, saying in a draft report that if prolonged, the delay could “compromise the credibility of the entire justice system” of Colombia.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said that the ongoing delays in electing the new prosecutor general threaten the country’s democratic institutions and the rule of law.
The court also failed to elect a replacement for magistrate Isaura Vargas.
The court will reconvene to vote again in two weeks time.