In Albania, for the third time, socialist deputies have blocked the referral of former Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka's mandate to the Constitutional Court.

Unlike the previous two instances, this time, just after midnight on Thursday, 65 socialists abstained, while only 9 voted against. The 25 opposition deputies who voted in favor were not enough to alter the outcome. Despite this, the President of the Constitutional Court, Holta Zaçaj, stated: "No one can choose not to execute the decision of the Constitutional Court. Its decisions carry the force of law. Failing to implement the Court's decision is tantamount to disregarding the Constitution and the law."

The controversy surrounding Xhaçka's mandate dates back to June 2022, when 14 Democratic deputies submitted a motion to the parliament, calling for the invalidation and termination of the former minister's mandate.

Shortly afterward, a similar motion was introduced by another group of opposition MPs, alleging that Xhaçka was in a conflict of interest because her husband, former Socialist MP Artan Gaçi, had received strategic investor status for the construction of a hotel on the Dhërmi coast.

Xhaçka has maintained that she has not profited from public funds and that her husband's investor status does not involve any such financial benefits.

At that time, the socialists concluded that the criteria for referring the case to the Constitutional Court were not met. In November 2022, they voted against the opposition's motion, sending the case directly to the Court.

The Court was faced with two requests: one from 1/10 of the deputies, seeking a resolution of the power dispute between them and the parliament and the annulment of the parliament's decision; and the other from 1/5 of the deputies, asking not only for the annulment of the decision but also for a finding of incompatibility regarding Xhaçka's mandate, thus having the case reviewed directly by the Court.

In January 2023, the Court sided with the 1/10 of the deputies, overturning the parliamentary decision and ruling that the case should be handled by the Court, not the parliament, which, under the Constitution, was obligated to accept the opposition's motion. The request from 1/5 of the deputies was dismissed.

For over a year, the case languished in parliament. In April 2024, the issue returned to a plenary session, where 72 votes from the majority once again blocked the referral of the case to the Constitutional Court.

The socialists cited the legal principle that "parliament decides," emphasizing that votes are cast freely and that this is enshrined in the Constitution, which stipulates that an MP's mandate is non-binding.

The opposition decried the socialists' stance as a "constitutional coup" and appealed to the Court, which, in July, annulled the parliament's decision once more and urged parliament to refer the case to the Court.

Head Holta Zaçaj reiterated that "MPs must vote in accordance with the Court's order, as this vote is not an ordinary parliamentary procedure. It has nothing to do with the principle of an MP's non-binding mandate but is rather a matter of enforcing the Court's decision."

It remains unclear how the matter will proceed or whether opposition MPs will again seek the Court's intervention, as the conflict between parliament and the judiciary intensifies.

Socialist majority representative Elisa Spiropali stated after the vote that the socialists would turn to the Venice Commission for an interpretation of the situation, which has led to an unprecedented standoff between two of Albania's key institutions. /VOA/