On 14 April, the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court nominated the current President of the Supreme Court, Aigars Strupišs, as a candidate for the post of President of the Supreme Court.

A total of three senators were nominated for the post of President of the Supreme Court – the current President of the Supreme Court Aigars Strupišs, Senator Rudīte Vīduša of the Department of Administrative Cases and Senator Aldis Laviņš of the Department of Civil Cases.

17 senators voted in favour of the nomination of Aigars Strupišs. 7 senators voted for Aldis Laviņš and 8 senators voted for Rudīte Vīduša. One Senator abstained. The voting was closed.

Aigars Strupišs is standing for re-election as President of the Supreme Court. He was first elected to the post in 2020. When he took office five years ago, he set the following main objectives for the Supreme Court: independence, quality and efficiency of the judiciary and increasing of the confidence in the judiciary. Aigars Strupišs believes that the reforms have already brought results and have the support of judges and the public, yet these reforms must be continued with determination. This has encouraged him to continue serving as President. In his address, the presidential candidate focused mainly on the development of the judicial system as a whole, because being both the President of the Supreme Court as the Chair of the Judicial Council it is required to have this broader vision.

Whereas, when asked about the most important possible changes and innovations in the work of the Supreme Court, Aigars Strupišs pointed out the introduction of artificial intelligence tools to make the work of the Court more efficient, the establishment of a unified case-law service for courts of all instances under the leadership of the Supreme Court’s Division of Case-law and Research, as well as possible changes in the system of evaluation of the professional performance of Supreme Court senators.

The candidate nominated by the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court will then be put to the vote in the parliament.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211