Venice Commission: Ilir Meta violated the Constitution

“Agreement of elections and further delay affected citizens' right to choose” is highlighted in this opinion, provided exclusively by Top-Channel

The president exceeded his constitutional competence as a start by canceling local elections, and further postponeing them. It is the competence of the Parliament and further of the Constitutional Court to determine that this violation is serious or not. Local elections can only be annulled in an emergency situation, but even in this case it must be acted in accordance with constitutional predictions, provisions of the law, or on the basis of ad-hoc legal solutions, (law-set rules, provisional). The President does not have this power.

The election annulment under domestic legislation says the Venice Commission takes place when the state of emergency -- the procedure rating by the Constitution -- is announced. In the case of annulment of the June 30th elections, this procedure has not been respected.

The president's resolution of elections has not preceded even any political agreement to create ad-hoc legal solutions. The president has exceeded his constitutional competence by cancelling and postponing local elections beyond the electoral mandate without being based on special legal basis. A series of elements are given in the opinion to determine the importance of a constitutional offense.

But are these violations enough to dismiss President Ilir Meta? The Venice Commission says:

“In view of these elements, violations may not be enough of a serious nature, but even if they are, from the competencies that have the plenary sessions of the Parliament to respect constitutional purposes, such as control and balance, it is the organ that takes into account all as soon as possible to establish the dismissal of President”.

The president's dismissal procedure is said in opinion, is the legal and political process. It remains in the decision of the Parliament's plenary session to decide on the nature of the violation and its importance, which could rule the president's dismissal.

The definition of elections is a condition of the principles of democracy and human rights. Any restrictions on this right to participate in elections periodically must be predicted in the law, have legitimate purpose and be proportional.

This criterion also applies to local elections. ”

Opinion points out:

The mandate of the election date exceeds the president's competencies. It's the decision-making partnership of the Parliament, the Investigative Commission and beyond. Constitutional establishment in violation of the Constitution under the terms of election period failure. ”