TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, June 28 -Albania’s parliament approved last week a series of procedural changes to the assembly’s regulatory framework that mandate that judicial nominations must be approved through an open ballot. The changes passed with only the votes of the governing Democratic Party lawmakers after the opposition Socialists abandoned the voting, saying they would not be part of a violation of the democratic rules.
The changes to the parliamentary procedures passed with 73 votes in favor by the ruling majority of Prime Minister Sali Berisha. The opposition accused the Democrats of trying to undermine the independence of the judicial system fearing votes among themselves which would not be in accordance with their party lines.
The open ballot could give Berisha more control over the votes of MPs from his party when judges’ nominations for the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court are voted. Three judges for the Supreme Court are expected to be likely voted next month, before the parliament’s summer break.
Albania’s Constitutional Court is expecting four more presidential decrees that likely seem to be postponed for the new session in autumn. One of the three the president had decreed in May was turned down. The Constitutional Court is also headed by the previous head Vladimir Kristo, whose mandate expired on June 5.
Albania’s judiciary has been its Achilles’ heel during the post-communist period since 1990. The international community has made it clear that a professional judiciary and one with no such high levels of corruption is obligatory along the country’s efforts of integration into the European Union.
