President Ilir Meta called the Socialist MPs initiative for his dismissal an “attempt to divert attention from the country’s real problems”.
In a letter to the parliament on Wednesday in response to their notification that procedures to dismiss him were under way, Meta warned that the institution is letting itself be misused by the ruling Socialist Party.
“This initiative aims to distract attention from demands of the President, the opposition, and international organizations to uncover criminal acts committed by the state-party to manipulate the electoral process held on April 25”, Meta stated.
He accused the parliament of being after him for more than two years, in attempts to undermine his constitutional activity, and added that the grounds for his dismissal were unclear and no evidence was presented against him.
Meta listed several other allegations against the parliament controlled by the Socialists: the unilateral changes to the constitution and electoral law aiming at securing a victory in the last elections, 62 anti-constitutional laws passed, illegal public-private partnerships awarded to government client companies, lack of parliamentary investigation into tailor-made laws that suit the interests of private businesses, pushing for one-party local elections to take place in 2019, passing a law for the demolition of the National Theater.
The president said the current parliament is controlled by one party and has no legitimacy to impeach him.
The PS parliamentary group filed a request to dismiss the president over alleged violations of the Constitution, claiming he maintained a partial role during the last electoral campaign.
This is their second attempt to dismiss President Meta. The first one was repealed following a Venice Commission opinion arguing that he had not committed serious violation of the constitution.
Read more: Socialist Majority Launches Procedure to Dismiss Albanian President
