Colombia’s Supreme Court postponed the election of a new national prosecutor general for a tenth time Thursday, after the judicial body failed to reach a consensus on which candidate should fill the position.
Margarita Cabello Blanco continues to lead the vote as court’s preferred candidate. This time she won ten votes, two fewer than in the previous vote.
The election, which the court rescheduled for May 20, failed yet again because none of the candidates managed to obtain the sixteen votes required to elect 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, has expressed concern about the election, saying in a draft report that prolonged delays 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.