With 104 votes in favor and 7 against, Albanian MPs voted to impeach President Ilir Meta amid allegations of serious constitutional violations during the electoral process.
This is the first time in the country’s pluralist history that a president is discharged by the assembly before the termination of a mandate, setting a precedent in the Albanian political scene.
The ruling Socialists who initiated the impeachment procedure needed a majority of 94 votes.
Before the beginning of today’s plenary session, the Socialist Party had gathered its parliamentary group.
The parliamentary commission tasked to investigate the President’s activities during the parliamentary elections determined that Meta had committed “serious violations”.
The conclusive 96-page report, carefully scrutinized by Euronews Albania, notes that the “President violated 17 articles of the Constitution” and that “these violations are considered serious offenses by the inquiry commission”.
The spokesperson of the president reacted right after the votes were counted describing the decision as “unconstitutional”.
“Zero concerns over the unconstitutional and ridiculous decision of the monist parliament that will become a case study in the global history of parliamentarism, on how a parliament without an opposition, which even though has been discharged by the people, votes to discharge another institution”, wrote Blushi on Facebook.
Meanwhile, during the entire course of events, President Meta considered the Parliament that will be convening to vote on his impeachment today, to be “anti-constitutional”.
In a statement for the press a few days ago, during his visit in Elbasan, President Meta reemphasized that “this Parliament is three times more anti-constitutional” while appealing for “the investigation of electoral crimes”.
“May God forgives those that don’t know what they are doing and may he guide them in the road of the common good,” said Meta.
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