TIRANA, Jan. 8 – Lawmakers Aqif Rakipi and Gledion Rehovica were stripped of their mandates on Friday by the Central Elections Commission (CEC) over the prosecution’s belief the two MPs hid criminal records in the past under different identities.
The decision was reached with a unanimous five votes for the ousting of the MPs.
According to the prosecution’s evidence, Rakipi and Rehovica were detained in Italy for theft under different names and were caught by Italian authorities. This was verified by comparing the suspects’ fingertips in the database of Interpol Tirana and Interpol Rome.
Both lawmakers have been investigated based on Albania’s decriminalization law, under which all MPs must submit extensive background information to guarantee they have no criminal convictions in Albania and abroad.
Rakipi is a member of the Cham community’s Party for Justice, Integration and Unity and was elected in Elbasan County. Rehovica represents Berat County for the Socialist Movement for Integration. While, SMI is currently in opposition, the PJIU supports the government in parliament.
This is not Rakipi’s first time under the spotlight. Last year, the Democratic Party (DP) requested the verification of Rakipi’s past on the grounds he has strong ties with Prime Minister Edi Rama, who allegedly protected Rakipi back in August, when the MP hit someone with his car in the early hours of the morning and fled the crime scene.
The two lawmakers were absent when CEC gave its verdict and were instead represented by their lawyers, who asked that the prosecution’s request to strip the MPs of their mandate to not be taken into consideration because it lacked evidence.
The U.S Embassy in Tirana, however, applauded CEC’s verdict.
“This decision is positive proof that the important decriminalization process, which began in December 2015, continues in Albania,” the embassy’s statement says.
The decriminalization law was approved at the start of 2016, after DP’s two-year-long campaign accusing the governing majority of appointing MPs and mayors with criminal pasts.
Upon its establishment, two MPs and one mayor lost their mandates, while two other ruling Socialist Party lawmakers resigned before being investigated.
