TIRANA, July 9 – The Albanian parliament approved on Monday evening the establishment of a special investigative commission for the dismissal of President Ilir Meta.
The left majority launched proceedings against Meta after he signed the decree that cancelled holding the local elections on June 30 as per his initial decree, stating it an unconstitutional act. On his part, Meta presented a long explanation on Monday, sticking to his latter decision to cancel the election date and pointing out that his decree is in force and consequently the June 30th elections are illegal and unconstitutional.
The request, initially signed by 55 MPs, passed to the Laws Commission, which approved a special report in support of the need to continue, as provided by the Constitution, with the establishment of a special investigative commission.
It was exactly on this report that parliament proceedings began on Monday evening, lasting less than two hours. According to the majority, Meta has consumed a series of constitutional violations, “violating the principle of exercising sovereignty on the part of the people, arbitrarily acting with the power of president in a parliamentary re-election, arbitrarily annulling the election date, violating the principle of periodicity of elections or the principle of the right of citizens to choose and to be elected.”
In his speech, Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that “Ilir Meta should be investigated and punished by the parliament, and the reaction against him, as deputies, should be frontal, without political differences, and in the name of constitution and parliamentary democracy.”
According to Rama, Meta “is no longer just a government opponent, but the open enemy of the constitution itself, not just the inspiration of the destructive offensive against the elections and justice, he is the self-declared parliament’s foe. Ilir Meta is just a politician afraid of the justice reform, he is the parable of the ferocious rage of justice, which, with the extent of his aggression on American and European friends and partners, disgraces all of us as deputies and citizens, as a people and as a state “.
Rama further called Meta “a source of political, institutional, social and social vulnerability,” before whom the “parliament can not allow himself to close his eyes. His dismissal is a compulsory move and determination of this parliament and obligation of every MP. His cup is not just full, but overflowing,” said Rama.
In turn, Meta preceded today’s session with a long explanation regarding his stand.
He insisted that his decree on the annulment of June 30 “was taken in full support of the Constitution and the fundamental principles protected by it,” specifying that “only the Constitutional Court may review the constitutionality of the decree of the President of the Republic.”
The members of the Central Election Commission, nominated by the majority, initially called Meta’s second decree an “invalid act” and continued with the preparations of the electoral process, while the ally of the Socialists, the National Unity Party, addressed the Electoral College to oppose CEC.
The College granted the latter the right, arguing in its decision that the president has no power to cancel an election date.
However, according to Meta’s office, the College has ruled on the relations of the other two parties where the Presidency of the Republic was not involved, while its reasoning calls it “an ugly attempt, a procedural trick to publicly create an image different from the fact, since the decision that the Electoral College took, did not in any way affect the Decree of the President.”
As a consequence, Meta claimed all the procedures that took place after his latest decree and in the absence of a Constitutional Court in the country, are illegal.
Meta reiterated once again his proposal to hold elections on October 13th, the new date decreed by him a few days before Rama went on to keep the elections at the end of June, meaning both general elections and elections for the country’s new president, although the latter would require constitutional amendments.
At the end of the session, the establishment of the investigative commission was approved with 101 votes in favor and only 6 against, indicating also that the majority required to approve Meta’s later dismissal will not be a problem for the Socialist majority.
The investigative commission will function within a three-month term, during which it is predicted the Constitutional Court will have been established, since the last decision belongs to it.
