The request of the Central Election Commission (KQZ) for extra materials from the Prosecution Office to decide whether or not the revoke the mandates of deputies Aqif Rakipi (PDIU) and Gledion Rehovica (LSI) risks turning the next KQZ session into a political media show like the session in which the Council of Mandates interrogated the Prosecution Office about the revocation of Saimir Tahiri’s parliamentary immunity.
The reasoning of the 4 members of the KQZ from the PS and LSI that materials provided by the prosecution are insufficient doesn’t hold for two reasons:
First, even though the decriminalization sector is a special department of the Prosecution Office it cannot provide proof to anyone except the courts. Second, the deputies themselves, including several who were not reelected, have voted clearly for a law that states that “providing false, incomplete, or inexact data on the decriminalization form leads to immediate and permanent exclusion from candidacy, election, nomination, or public function.
The request of the Prosecution to the KQZ clearly contained cases in which the above-mentioned deputies had been investigated by the Italian police. Even though the details may seem banal or simply “forgotten,” it should be stated clearly that their mandate is not at risk because of their convictions for theft in Italy, but because they failed to report this on their decriminalization form.
A forgetful mind didn’t help their former colleagues and mayors, whose mandates were revoked less than 6 months ago, either. Both the cases of Shkëlqim Selami and Dashamir Tahiri, convicted in Italy, are quite similar and in both cases the KQZ decided to revoke their mandates. That in the case of Rakipi and Rehovica the KQZ seeks “extra materials” smacks of a double standard.
No KQZ member and no deputy is allowed to judge the proofs of the Prosecution Office, especially because these may contain information that is sensitive and relevant to the criminal proceedings started against both deputies.
But seems only a small issue compared to the already half-announced decision of the KQZ, which guards the implementation of the decriminalization law, the costly and tiring investment of Albanian politics and the internationals. So far, the latter have shown a great interest in this issue, as the risk of a double standard could be a serious threat to the entire process, which is so important for a country where the worlds of crime and politics have become so much intertwined.
