Madrid - The Spanish judiciary is increasingly becoming a playground for political interests, an association representing the legal profession was quoted as saying by the media on Wednesday.

An agreement between the two main parties on who parliament should confirm as new members of the General Council of Judicial Power (CGPJ) was described as a "shameful spectacle" and "fraud."

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and conservative opposition leader Mariano Rajoy reached an agreement on the composition of the CGPJ after a two-year party struggle for the control of the organ, which appoints judges and watches over them.

The 21 members include nine judges close to the Socialists and nine close to Rajoy's People's Party (PP).

The agreement was a "slap in the face" of judges who did not belong to politically oriented associations, National Court judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska complained, explaining that the CGPJ members should be chosen on professional and not political grounds.

The judges' association AJFV, which stresses its political independence, described the agreement as defrauding the law and a "shameful spectacle." (dpa)