The vice-president of the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ), Graça Amaral, and the counselor judge, Leonor Furtado, will run for the presidency of the STJ, joining the former vice-president of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), José Sousa Lameira, in the race.
According to the STJ’s press office, Graça Amaral, who took over as vice-president of the high court in January, and Leonor Furtado have also presented their candidacy programs, as has Sousa Lameira, the first candidate to stand in the ‘inter pares’ election scheduled for May 15.
In the letter sent to her peers, Graça Amaral considers it “fundamental that citizens find in this court (…) answers and paths that support and ensure the preservation of trust in the functioning of judicial institutions”, listing her experience in the STJ, where she also served as an advisor for five years, which, she says, allows her to have “a dual perspective” on this sovereign body.
Leonor Furtado, who has already served as director-general of social reintegration, proposes creating a new section in the STJ, ‘Family, Youth and Children’, thus giving visibility to a complex area which, while not entirely civil in nature, includes the law of the promotion and protection of children and the criminal law of young people (educational guardianship), without excluding matters related to the elderly and the most incapacitated”, and a pool of specialized consultants to provide information to the advisory judges.
In his letter presenting his candidacy, José Sousa Lameira says that his “continuous exercise of his duties as a judge”, as well as his experience in the SCJ, allow him to “have an accurate idea of the numerous and varied problems that arise in the courts in their multifaceted dimensions and very specifically in the STJ”.
On May 15, the judges will elect the successor to Henrique Araújo, who is stepping down because he has reached the age limit of 70.
The president of the STJ is also the president of the SCJ.
