WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Polish lawmakers voted Thursday to approve a contentious law that gives control of the nation’s Supreme Court to the president instead of to judges, sparking new protests outside parliament in Warsaw.
The bill on the Supreme Court has drawn condemnation from the European Union and has led to street protests. Critics say it kills judicial independence and violates the rule of law.
The new law, proposed by the ruling populist Law and Justice party, gives the nation’s president the power to influence the court’s work and to appoint its judges. It calls for the dismissal of the court’s current judges, except for those chosen by the president.
The vote Thursday was 235-192 with 23 abstentions. It came after a parliamentary commission summarily rejected 1,300 opposition amendments to it.
It still needs to win approval from the Senate, which is expected to be granted at a session Friday, and by President Andrzej Duda, who has so far followed the ruling party line.