Osmani awaits "clarification" from the Constitutional Court on CEC appointments

President Vjosa Osmani has justified the decision not to appoint a member of the CEC without first obtaining the opinion of the Constitutional Court. The coalition of election observation organizations, "Democracy in Action", has also taken a position against the decision.

President Vjosa Osmani said on Wednesday that she is awaiting a clarification from the Constitutional Court on whether it is up to the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) to have three members on the Central Election Commission (CEC) or the Democratic Party (PDK) to have two.

A day ago, it was announced that Osmani had addressed the Constitutional Court with a request for clarification regarding the appointment of the new composition of the CEC.

After the 2021 elections, among Albanian parties, LVV had two members, PDK two, and LDK and AAK one each. However, the dilemma about future representation in the CEC arose after the proposal of three candidates by Vetëvendosje, which won 51.1 percent of the vote in the last elections.

"(Why has the appointment of the composition not been completed, vj) Because three were requested by Vetëvendosje, only two were appointed. Two were requested by PDK, one was appointed, because there are more proposals than the Constitution allows. And since this issue has not been clarified by the Constitutional Court so far, I have requested that it clarify it. However, this case has been raised on a different legal basis, not on the same one that was raised in previous cases, either by former President Thaçi or by me. This issue has been unclear over the years for each president in fact. And I hope that the court will finally clarify it", said President Osmani. "The moment it is clarified, we will continue with the appointments".

Osmani also had a dilemma about appointments in 2021 when Vetëvendosje won the elections with 50.02 percent of the vote and requested a third member of the CEC. Even then, the president had turned to the Constitutional Court for clarification, but the Court had not addressed the case, and as a result, Osmani did not appoint three LVV candidates, but appointed the second PDK candidate to the CEC.
Unlike the previous composition, in the new one, Osmani did not appoint the second member of the PDK, although he asked this party to propose the names of candidates.

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The President said that the Constitutional Court has not made a decision in the past on situations like the present, which is why she turned to it.

"No, it did not clarify at all. So, it did not make a decision. In fact, then the court, since we have raised the case on the basis of article 84 point 9, so we have sent a request for clarification, said that it cannot provide clarifications due to a new standard that the court has built. Meanwhile, now we have raised the case on another constitutional basis, namely article 113 of the Constitution, and I really hope that the court will give the answer. So, it is not that only one member of the PDK has not been appointed; one of the LVV has also not been appointed, if we look at their proposals. And since there is only one seat, not two, I have to ask the court how to proceed," she said.

According to the Constitution, six members of the CEC are appointed by the six largest parliamentary groups that do not hold reserved seats. And, if there are fewer parliamentary groups in the Assembly, the Constitution states that the largest groups may appoint additional members.

PDK, through a press conference on Tuesday, expressed concern that the president has not appointed both of its members.

This party has said that the president has violated the Constitution by refusing to nominate the PDK candidate.

The coalition of election observation organizations "Democracy in Action" (DnV) has also opposed President Osmani's decision to refer the issue of appointing CEC members to the Constitutional Court, saying that the delay in this process harms the functionality of the institution. 

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The DnV's response states that the composition of the CEC is clearly defined in the constitutional and legal framework through the strict representation model, and this model is not directly related to the election result or the political weight of the entities in terms of numbers, but to the principle of balance between parliamentary groups that have the right to propose.

Previous cases were also mentioned, including the period after the 2021 elections, when the composition of the CEC was determined based on a strict model, limiting the representation of the largest entity to two members, regardless of the election result.

"This practice constitutes an established standard - also in line with the Venice Commission's Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters - that has guaranteed the balanced functioning of the institution," the response states.

According to the DnV, treating this issue as a constitutional dilemma and referring it to the court does not contribute to additional clarity, but produces delays in a process that requires direct decision-making. 

"The failure to complete the full composition of the CEC violates its constitutional configuration of 11 members, simultaneously affecting its functioning and decision-making," the reaction further stated. 

The DnV has called for the appointment of the remaining member of the CEC to be completed without further delay, in accordance with the Constitution, the law and the standards established in practice, in order to preserve the functionality and credibility of this institution.

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From the Albanian parties, the president has appointed Alban Krasniqi and Violeta Emini as representatives of the LVV, Ilir Gashi of the PDK, while she has not appointed Rashit Qalaj.

He appointed Sami Hamit from the LDK, while Muharrem Nitaj from the AAK.