TIRANA, May 9 – One of the key figures of the ruling Socialist Party, MP Koà§o Kokà«dhima, has been stripped of his parliamentary mandate because of conflict of interest. The Constitutional Court decision made on Monday came after the opposition Democrats had accused the MP of benefiting public funds from his internet service provider after he was elected MP for the Socialist Party in 2013.
The opposition claimed Kokedhima, a former businessman and media owner, had benefited funds in 150 cases from contracts with central and local government units in open breech of the Constitution which bans MPs to do business with public funds. Kokà«dhima had defended himself by claiming that the contracts were awarded long before he became an MP and that ever since he is no longer a shareholder in any of the companies previously owned by him.
Under a decision made on Monday, the Constitutional Court found Kokedhima’s MP mandate incompatible with the country’s Constitution. The judges’ arguments leading to the decision are expected to be published in the next few weeks. Following the ruling, Kokedhima said that his journey in politics isn’t over yet. “My journey in politics doesn’t end here, it is just in its beginnings,” Kokedhima wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, senior Socialist Party MP Fatmir Xhafa said that the party will respect the decision taken by the judges. “I don’t comment on court rulings, I respect its decision,” Xhafaj said. Kokedhima, who was recently elected as Secretary for the Structural Reform and Immigration in the latest Socialist Party Assembly, will be replaced by Edmond Leka, the current SP head in the district of Vlora, southern Albania. The Kokedhima case has been object of long political debates in the last year, while the opposition took the drastic decision to not participate in Parliament unless the Constitutional Court ruled on the case.
An earlier request of the opposition for the termination of his mandate was rejected by Parliament last April, which made the opposition take the matter to the Constitutional Court. The latter ruled that conflict of interest cases are to be reviewed by the court and that the role of the parliament is formal when there is a request by a tenth of representatives. The Constitutional Court is also expected to rule over the mandates of two other Socialist Party MPs, deputy Parliament Speaker Valentina Leskaj and MP Rakip Suli, over conflict of interest as their family members are alleged to have benefited funds from public tenders and contracts.
The examination of the mandates of the three SP MPs had been a constant request by the opposition Democrats who set it as a key condition for their participation in negotiations on the much-rumored justice reform. The reform, which has been set as a pre-condition for the country’s EU accession talks after Albania was granted EU candidate status in mid-2014, seems back on track only thanks to insistence by the international community after frequent political deadlocks in the past few months.
