Albania’s Constitutional Court has ruled against parliament’s decision to impeach President Ilir Meta, accused of violating the constitution by taking part in an election campaign in April when he was supposed to be neutral.
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“The court abrogated the decision of the parliament (concerning the president), the facts presented do not constitute a violation of the constitution“, according to a statement from the Constitutional Court released Thursday, February 17 in Tirana. Last June, the Albanian parliament had voted, with 104 votes for out of 121 deputies, the dismissal of Ilir Meta after a parliamentary inquiry, led by a group of deputies from the socialist majority, into the behavior of the president in the electoral campaign for the Legislative of April 25.
The socialists had accused Ilir Meta “of having violated 16 articles of the Constitution” in “openly committing itself during the legislative elections of April 25 in favor of the opposition“. According to them, he should thereforeto be removed from office“. The president immediately called this vote “unconstitutional and ridiculous decision» accusing the socialists «to want to hide by this act the electoral fraud during the ballot“. During the last legislative elections, the socialist party had won 74 of the 140 seats in parliament, which enabled it to obtain a third four-year term as head of the Albanian government.
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Ilir Meta, who has exercised the mainly honorary functions of head of state since 2017, had during the election campaign exchanged spades with Prime Minister Edi Rama, whose Socialist Party won the legislative elections. The mandate of Ilir Meta, 52, expires on July 24, 2022. Former Prime Minister and member of the Socialist Party, Ilir Meta left this party in 2004 to form the Socialist Integration Movement, a small party in opposition to the Socialists by Edi Rama.