Albanian parliament to hold session to consider impeaching president

The Albanian parliament on Monday is expected to hold a session next week to discuss the possible impeachment of President Ilir Meta for allegedly violating the country’s constitution.

As The Associated Press reports, the parliament decided to hold the session on June 9 after a report from an investigative committee that found Meta had violated 16 articles of Albania’s constitution before the April 25 general election. The committee concluded that Meta should be removed from office.

The AP reports that 49 socialist governing lawmakers had requested the investigative committee earlier this month investigate Meta for allegedly failing in his constitutional duty in guaranteeing national unity and siding with the opposition in the election. 

A two-thirds majority is required to impeach Meta, the AP notes. The country’s Socialist Party won 74 out of the 140 parliament seats in this past election, which means it does not have the numbers to reach a two-thirds majority. Should the parliament vote to impeach him, Albania’s Constitutional Court would give final approval within three months.

The AP notes that the Albanian presidency is a largely ceremonial role that carries some authority over the judiciary and armed forces. The presidency is considered to be apolitical, but Meta has regularly butted heads with Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Meta accused Rama of hoarding all legislative, administrative and judiciary power to himself and running a “kleptocratic regime.” Meta also served as Albanian Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002, being one of the country’s youngest leaders at the time at 30-years-old.