Comment by turquoisevar

Another example:

In the Netherlands the Dutch Supreme Court provides parliament with a shortlist of 6 people. The Dutch parliament then makes a short list of 3 people based on that list. Traditionally the first three people on the 6 person list by the Dutch Supreme Court.

This 3 person list is then offered to the Dutch government who then appointments one of them, traditionally the first one on the list, as a Supreme Court judge.

In the entire history only once did the Dutch parliament deviate from the Supreme Court’s 6 person shortlist and only once did the Dutch government deviate from the parliament’s 3 person shortlist.

So in practice it’s the Supreme Court who chooses who should join them, none of the judges are elected officials.

Lower court judges aren’t elected either, like say, in the US.

Neither are prosecutors for that matter.

In general these are all merit based appointments, not unlike your average job application, just with more ceremony.