During the meeting of the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party yesterday, Prime Minister Edi Rama declared that he supported a proposal by deputy Taulant Balla to fire the chairman of the Central Election Commission, Klement Zguri.
I fully support the initiative of [Balla] to start the procedures to dismiss the chairman of the KQZ, while together with the experts of the Prime Ministry we are also judging the possibility of dismissing the mayor of the Municipality of Mallakastra as an entity who has been convicted by the Italian court and is subject to the decriminalization law. The fact that he is a member of the Democratic Party gives him neither immunity from the law nor virginity in relation to the criminal acts that he has committed and for which he has been punished by the Italian authorities.
A few weeks ago, the KQZ, led by Zguri, refused to dismiss Mayor of Mallakastra Agron Kapllanaj over a criminal conviction in Italy.
Zguri became KQZ chairman after the McAllister+ deal between Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader Lulzim Basha in May. Zguri was proposed by the PD and replaced Denar Biba, who was affiliated to the PS.
In March, when the KQZ was still led by Biba, had refused to withdraw the mandates of Mayor of Tepelena Tërmet Peçi and Mayor of Poliçan Adriatik Zotkaj, both from the PS and subject to the decriminalization law.
Even though Kapllanaj’s PD membership doesn’t give him “immunity from the law,” it thus appears that a PS membership certainly comes with such perks, as also the recent Tahiri–Habilaj scandal confirmed.
The move of the PS to replace Zguri with a government ally will secure the continued politicization of the KQZ and hamper attempts at a consensual redrafting of the electoral code.
