TIRANA, Dec 10 /ATA/ – The Venice Commission, an influential body on constitutional matters, released Tuesday its opinion regarding the mandate of the Socialist Party lawmaker Olta Xhaçka.
In its opinion, the Venice Commission underlined that if the Constitution proclaims the power of parliament to decide (i.e. to vote) on a certain matter, the content of such vote must be freely determined by each MP alone, and cannot be dictated.
The Venice Commission said in a press release that upon a request forwarded by the Speaker of the Assembly of Albania, the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission) adopted its opinion on implementation by parliament of Albania’s Constitutional Court decisions.
The Commission confirmed that Albania’s parliament does not have to vote in a prescribed way. Instead, MPs have the freedom to vote according to their own beliefs, a principle supported by the Albanian Constitutional Court’s 2011 ruling. The Venice Commission further emphasized that the political mandate of any MP is inviolable, meaning that lawmakers cannot be legally forced to vote in a specific manner.
The Assembly of Albania recognized the binding nature of the Constitutional Court decisions, but called for the Commission’s opinion regarding enforcement of this obligation. The Venice Commission did not comment or interpret certain decisions of the Constitutional Court.
In its review, the Venice Commission also noted that parliament can only refer an MP’s mandate to the Constitutional Court under specific conditions, such as when an MP uses public assets for personal gain. In other cases, parliament is responsible for resolving the matter on its own.
The Commission reminded that the Constitutional Court’s role is to interpret the law, not to create new laws, and that constitutional amendments made by parliament should be respected to avoid perceptions of judicial overreach.
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