E/CN.4/1999/63/Add.2 page 8 lawyers feel that the Executive Commission of the Judiciary influences the appointment and transfer of judges, as well as the composition of divisions of collegiate courts, something the Executive Secretary categorically denied. B. Reform of the Office of the Public Prosecutor 33. The Office of the Public Prosecutor is headed by the Attorney-General of the Nation, who is elected for three years by the six-member Board of Senior Prosecutors and may be re-elected for a further two. An act adopted in 1992 stipulated that the post should be given to the most senior prosecutor, account being taken of the time served in a provisional capacity; this postponed until 1997 the election of the present Attorney-General, who is recognized as being independent. 34. Act No. 26.623 established the Executive Commission of the Office of the Public Prosecutor (CEMP), which the Government made responsible for servicing and administering the reform process and for appointing provisional prosecutors. This Act and the amendment thereto (Act No. 26.738) placed a serious constraint on the powers of the new Attorney-General of the Nation by making the new body responsible for appointing senior and provisional provincial prosecutors and bringing a public right of action for ministerial offences against judges and, most importantly, by giving it management responsibility for the service as a whole. The establishment of CEMP may well compromise the transparency of appointments and the independence of the Office of the Public Prosecutor. C. Provisional status of judges and prosecutors 35. Since the dismissal from their posts of prosecutors and judges in 1992, vacancies in the Supreme Court and among senior prosecutors have been filled by the executive branch and, in more junior posts, by the judiciary itself, by naming “provisional” officials. For the Working Group, this situation, which has existed for six years, is serious because, at present, only 27 per cent of judges and prosecutors (1,456 posts) have tenure. Of the remainder, 16 per cent are provisional (they hold a junior post, but have been provisionally promoted to a more senior post in the hierarchy) and 57 per cent are alternates (judges who are not part of the system of the administration of justice). For the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, “the trial of persons ... by judges without security of tenure constitutes prima facie a violation of the right to be tried by an independent tribunal” (E/CN.4/1998/39/Add.1, para. 106). 36. The Working Group received many statements critical of Act No. 26.898 of 15 December 1997, which gives provisional judges the same rights, prerogatives and restrictions as tenured judges and would therefore affect the results of key elections in which the latter have a majority such as that for the Supreme Court judge who is to chair the National Electoral Board. D. Constitutional Court 37. This Court is the body which monitors the Constitution (art. 201). It has jurisdiction in second instance over amparo, habeas corpus and habeas data proceedings which have been dismissed and in sole instance over