VOA: The majority rushed to redo the elections in Himare! The President urgently set the new date

2024-07-05 21:13:00, Politikë CNA

VOA: The majority rushed to redo the elections in Himare! The President urgently

In Albania, the State Commissioner of Elections, Ilirjan Celibashi, declared today the invalidity of the mandate of the elected chairman of Himara, Fredi Beleri, after the final decision of the Court of Appeal, which sentenced him to two years in prison, for election corruption. Mr. Beleri, present at the meeting, as well as his defenders, supported the idea that the Central Election Commission could not express itself on this case, without a Government decision dismissing him from office. But according to Mr. Celibashi, the decision is based on the so-called Decriminalization Law. The Government then urgently demanded the announcement of new elections in Himara, by the president, who also quickly decreed August 4 as the day of voting.

"We are in the condition of losing the mandate of the mayor of Himara", announced Mr. Celibashi, at the end of the meeting called for this issue. Mr. Beleri heard the decision about the loss of his mandate as mayor of Himara in the hall, where he had come accompanied by police officers.

The meeting, which lasted nearly 1 hour, focused on the debate on the legal basis of his case. The representative of the Socialist Party Eridan Salinji said that the decision should be made based on the decriminalization law: "This is an automatic process. We cannot discuss when there is a decision of the Court of Appeal. We are here simply to ascertain the fact. There is an Appeal decision, yes or no? That is the only question that needs to be asked."

But for Mr. Ivi Kaso, the representative of the opposition coalition, under whose banner Mr. Beleri ran in the elections of May 14 of last year, the government is seeking to use the CEC to hold the elections in Himara as soon as possible, because according to him, they should was the one who should dismiss him: "The majority does not want to do this, because they do not want to include it in the time and appeal deadlines provided for by law 139, Article 62, so that after they dismiss him, the decision becomes final only when to express the Constitutional Court. So they are in a hurry to hold the elections in Himara."

This position was defended by Mr. Beleri himself in his speech: "I must take an oath and be dismissed, as provided by the law and the Constitution. It is clear, I am also clear, that my mandate as mayor of Himara has ended. I am speaking because these will make way, there will be a continuation. Their arrogance is clearly visible, their desire to make the decisions, when they want, to make them in the middle of the narrow"

But the Commissioner of Elections, Celibashi, said that he was convinced that in this case the law on decriminalization was applied, since otherwise, this law "would not have the point of meaning, in my judgment and evaluation, if we prohibit someone from running , when there are some conditions that the law considers prohibitive, and we say to the person, you continue, stay in office, even though you have committed one of those criminal offenses, for which the law prohibits you from running".

VOA: The majority rushed to redo the elections in Himare! The President urgently

During the election process in Himare

The fear of Mr. Beleri and his representatives, that the majority was in a hurry to redo the elections in Himara, turned out to be not misplaced. Immediately after the closing of the session at the CEC, the Government turned to this institution to be notified of the decision. And as soon as he received the answer, he turned to President Bajram Begaj, informing him of the vacancy, and asking him to announce new elections. Very soon, although there was a deadline of 48 hours, the Head of State decreed the date of August 4, for the holding of the elections. The urgent moves of the government seem to raise questions from a legal point of view, as long as today's decision can be appealed to the Appeals Commission, as determined by the decision of Mr. Celibashi. At the moment there is no official explanation for this.

The Office of the Head of State, for its part, in response to the interest of the Voice of America, noted that "the President of the Republic is not the body that determines the vacancy, as it does not consider the procedure that preceded it, nor is it instance of administrative appeal. In the Albanian legal system, there is only one legal way to move the President of the Republic, in the case of vacancies in the local government. This route is the route of notification by the Council of Ministers". According to the Head of State, "the procedure for setting the election date and the procedure for appealing administrative acts are both legal and coexist with each other. In the event that conflicts arise between them - the explanation follows - then it is the competent court that has the power to resolve the conflict. The legal means for the protection of legal interests are not abolished by the procedure of decreeing the elections", emphasized the press office of President Begaj./

"We are in the condition of losing the mandate of the mayor of Himara", announced Mr. Celibashi, at the end of the meeting called for this issue. Mr. Beleri heard the decision about the loss of his mandate as mayor of Himara in the hall, where he had come accompanied by police officers.