Colombia’s Supreme Court on Thursday failed to elect a new national prosecutor general for the 20th time in a year, despite calls from Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos that the court make the selection as soon as possible.
Margarita Cabello Blanco continues to lead the vote as court’s preferred candidate, winning eleven votes this time round. She was followed by Jorge Anibal Gomez with eight votes and Marco Antonio Velilla with two.
The election failed yet again because none of the candidates managed to obtain the sixteen votes required to elect a prosecutor general.
The failed election follows the certification by the U.S.’s State Department Wednesday that Colombia meets “statutory criteria related to human rights,” but needs to make a “swift selection of a Prosecutor General” because it is “vital to making headway on combating impunity.”
Supreme Court magistrates will convene to vote again next Thursday.