The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today elected Sebastian Răduleţu as judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Romania.
Mr Răduleţu, having obtained a majority of votes cast, is elected judge of the European Court of Human Rights for a term of office of nine years which shall commence not later than three months after his election.
Judges are elected by PACE from a list of three candidates nominated by each State which has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe elects the judges of the European Court of Human Rights, providing them with democratic legitimacy.
According to the European Convention on Human Rights, judges must “be of high moral character and possess the qualifications required for appointment to high judicial office or be jurisconsults of recognised competence”.
To ensure these standards are met, there are two phases to the election process – firstly a national selection procedure, in which each State party chooses a list of three qualified candidates, and secondly the election procedure undertaken by the Assembly, in which a special parliamentary committee assesses the qualifications of the three candidates, as well as the fairness of the national selection procedure, before the Assembly proceeds with the election.