Judges confused voted early this morning to elect a member of the Judicial Council for one of the communities for which two candidates had applied, Skopje Judge Artan Limani of the Civil Court and Gostivar Judge Hanif Zendeli. Some of the judges this morning learned that Limani had withdrawn his application, Svedok writes. According to reports, Limani withdrew the documents Monday afternoon, but only the Judicial Council knew about it, but not the judges, much less the election commission that did not respond.

The judges who had voted were not informed that Limani had withdrawn, and there had been no notification from the election commission.

Judicial Council President Kiro Zdravev said he was aware of the documents being withdrawn, but he said this was not possible at this stage of the procedure.

Assuming Artan Limani wins, though he withdrew, because the judges voted for him, Zdravev says they would consider him a member of the Judicial Council. After that he can resign and the whole procedure is repeated.

Judge Artan Limani cited personal reasons for the withdrawal, however, his colleagues do not believe it and argue that it is DUI’s pressure to elect a Gostivar judge, and thus DUI would have full control over Albanian members of the council.