TIRANA, October 11/ATA/- The Venice Commission reconfirmed on October 11, 2019 that, the President of the Republic of Albania, Ilir Meta has violated the Constitution by issuing a decree to cancel the June 30 local elections and postponing them having no powers to make such a decision.
The Venice Commission unanimously approved today the final report on the opinion requested by the Albania’s Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on the violation of the Constitution by the President Ilir Meta.
Present at today’s Venice Commission meeting was also the Chairman of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, who stated that “The European Commission for Democracy through Law, also known as the Venice Commission, clearly has concluded that: Acting President Ilir Meta has acted beyond his constitutional powers, when he decided to cancel and then postpone the local elections.”
“The decision on cancellation of the local elections and their postponement has violated the right of citizens to vote. The electoral boycott by several major political parties, even if they represent a certain proportion of voters, cannot prevent the holding of regular elections. Otherwise, these parties would gain the opportunity to hinder any future electoral process,” Balla said.
“Against the background of a current impeachment procedure against Albanian President Ilir Meta, for having postponed local elections beyond the electoral mandate of local authorities, Council of Europe constitutional experts of the Venice Commission conclude that while the President may have acted beyond his constitutional powers, there are indications that his acts may not have been of a nature justifying impeachment.
In the opinion adopted today, which had been requested by Albanian Assembly Speaker Gramoz Ruci, the Venice Commission notes that the Albanian President cannot cancel elections without political consensus.
Even in case of a state of emergency, such as war or natural catastrophe, Parliament would need to adopt ad hoc legislation to postpone the elections.
Furthermore, local elections do not have the same constitutional status as parliamentary elections.
Even if the Assembly were to find that the President overstepped his bounds, the Venice Commission questions whether this was of such a character as necessary to substantiate a “serious violation”, ” the the final report of the Venice Commission says. //a.i/
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