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Holta Zaçaj's term as judge ends, Supreme Court announces vacancy

Politiko 2024-12-11 09:40:42

The President of the Constitutional Court, Holta Zaçaj, declared yesterday that she does not accept to recognize March 10, 2025 as the end date of her mandate as a member of the Constitutional Court. For this, she turned to the Venice Commission for an opinion.

Today, the Supreme Court, through an announcement, announced that it has initiated procedures for the application of a vacant seat on the Constitutional Court, considering Zaçaj's mandate to have ended after the specified date.

Based on Article 125, point 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which determines the competence of the Supreme Court to elect three members of the Constitutional Court, in Article 7/ç, point 1 of Law No. 8577, dated 10.02.2000 “On the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania”, amended by Law No. 99/2016, which provides for the election procedure by the Supreme Court, as well as in Article 26, point 2 of Law No. 98/2018 “On the organization of the judicial power in the Republic of Albania”, the President of the Supreme Court, after notification of the vacancy by the President of the Constitutional Court, has the obligation to announce the opening of the application procedure for a member of the Constitutional Court.

Article 125, point 6 of the Constitution provides that the Constitutional Court shall be renewed every 3 years by one third of its members. The renewal of the composition of the Constitutional Court is a constitutional process, which involves three appointing bodies, the President, the Assembly and the Supreme Court, which elect every three years, respectively, one member of this court. In order to guarantee the regular renewal of the Constitutional Court, this process is mandatory to be carried out in a timely manner by the three appointing bodies, in order to avoid any crisis or tension that may undermine the legitimacy and normal functioning of the Court itself, as the highest authority that definitively interprets the Constitution.

Due to the importance of regularly and continuously renewing the composition of the Constitutional Court, in the 2016 constitutional amendments, the constitutional legislator paid special attention to the timely completion of the process, providing that some members of the Constitutional Court would not be elected for a full term. For this reason, Article 179 of the Constitution sanctioned a clear scheme for transitional renewal, according to which the 9-year mandate of the judges who would replace two judges whose mandate would end in 2017 and 2020 was limited, while the mandate of the other seven constitutional judges regularly ended in the renewal years, respectively, two judges in 2016, two judges in 2019 and three judges in 2022. By establishing the mechanism of limiting the mandate of the two judges who would succeed those who were not elected in the regular year of the renewal, while for the other seven judges the year of the end of the 9-year mandate was determined, the renewal of the Constitutional Court was regularly carried out every three years of one third of its members. Such a solution confirmed the renewal of the Constitutional Court as a constitutional obligation that prevails over the 9-year duration of the judge's mandate. This constitutional standard is also clarified in Article 86, point 4 of Law No. 8577/2000 “On the Organization and Functioning of the Constitutional Court”, amended by Law No. 99/2016, which stipulates the completion of the renewal for the transitional phase (until 2022), while after this period, every three years (2025, 2028, 2031 and onwards) the renewal returns to normal.

In compliance with this constitutional and legal order, the Special Meeting of Judges of the Supreme Court, on 16.01.2023, elected Ms. Holta Zaçaj as a member of the Constitutional Court in the vacancy created due to the end of the mandate of Ms. Vitore Tusha on 10.03.2017, who, as a judge in office, continued to exercise her mandate until her replacement. Therefore, based on Article 179, point 3 of the Constitution, Ms. Holta Zaçaj, who replaced Ms. Vitore Tusha, would remain in office until March 2025.

The end time of the replacement judge's term of office in March 2025 was made public in the announcements made by the Supreme Court for the opening of the application procedure for the election of a member of the Constitutional Court. Based on these announcements, all candidates who applied for this vacancy were informed of the duration of the term. Thus, in the announcement of the Supreme Court dated 3.06.2021, it was determined that the announcement of vacancies for members of the Constitutional Court is made as follows: "7. In the vacancy created after the departure of Ms. Vitore Tusha (the full 9-year mandate ended in 2017), a new judge is elected, who remains in office until March 2025". Due to the limited number of applicants, also in the announcement dated 31.01.2022 made by the Supreme Court for the filling of the vacancy after the departure of Ms. Vitore Tusha, it is expressly stated: “… The President of the Supreme Court re-announces the call for filling the vacancy created by the end of the term of office of the judge of the Constitutional Court, for the remainder of the 9-year term, which ends in March 2025”,

On this basis, the Judicial Appointments Council has carried out the procedure for verifying the legal criteria and ranking the candidates and the High Court, with decision no. 2, dated 16.01.2023, has elected Ms. Holta Zaçaj as a judge of the Constitutional Court “with a partial mandate, until the renewal in 2025”. Therefore, for the High Court as the appointing body that elects the constitutional judge, for the Judicial Appointments Council that conducts the relevant procedure, as well as for the candidates themselves who applied to fill this vacant position, to which Ms. Holta Zaçaj was elected, the duration of this partial mandate and the time of its end, which is related to the month of March 2025 and specifically on March 10, have been clearly defined. Ms. herself Holta Zaçaj, in the two requests for application review, which she addressed to the Supreme Court and the Judicial Appointments Council, on 25.02.2022 and 30.11.2022, expressed her willingness to be elected to the "remaining term of the 9 (nine) year term, which ends in March 2025 of Ms. Vitore Tusha".