The Lithuanian parliament Seimas on Thursday appointed Justice Gintaras Goda as president of the country’s Constitutional Court.
The motion was approved by secret ballot, with 85 votes in favour, three against, and five abstentions.
The new Constitutional Court president was appointed for a period of three years, ie until the end of Goda’s term with the court in 2026.
The term of the previous Constitutional Court president, Danutė Jocienė, expired on March 16.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda praised Goda as a qualified lawyer whose academic and educational experience, expertise in criminal law, as well as a long record of working as a judge, will help him perform the responsible functions of the Constitutional Court president.
Before the appointment, Goda served as acting president of the Constitutional Court, which he joined as a justice in March 2017.
The Constitutional Court has nine members appointed for nine years and only for one term.
Under the law, the makeup of this court is renewed every three years when a third of its members are replaced.
Candidates are nominated by the president, the Seimas speaker, and the president of the Supreme Court of Lithuania.
On March 16, the Seimas appointed Stasys Šedbaras, former chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, law professor Tomas Davulis, and Supreme Court Judge Aurelijus Gutauskas as Constitutional Court justices.
They replaced justices Elvyra Baltutytė, Vytautas Greičius, and Danuta Jocienė after their terms expired.
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