The election of members from civil society to the KLJ and KLP is called into question

Gjonçaj's report, published on Thursday by the Assembly, has qualified only two names for the 2 vacant seats, making that there are two candidates for the KLJ, Erjon Fejzulla and Violanda Theodhori, while only Fejzulla is in the running for the KLP.

The list that was submitted to the Assembly in April by the People's Advocate contained 6 names in total, which had passed the preliminary evaluation by the Ad Hoc Committee of civil society.

In the race for KLP were Erion Fejzulla, Altin Hazizaj, Juelda Lamçe, Lefterie Lleshi, Altin Shegani, while Violanda Theodhori is added to the list of the KLJ, which is the same.

Gjoncaj has decided to disqualify most of the candidates with the argument that they do not meet the legal criteria to be candidates, mainly because they cannot prove that the organizations they work for have been active in the field of human rights.

Hazizaj was disqualified due to a previous criminal conviction and due to the fact that in a competition procedure in 2017-2018, the candidate did not declare this conviction in the decriminalization form.

While the candidates Shegani, Lamçe and Lleshi have been disqualified since they did not send documents to the Assembly that prove that the organizations they belonged to were active with projects in the field of human rights or the justice system, or were regular tax payers.

This list, narrowed down to only 2 names for the two councils, does not allow the Special Parliamentary Subcommittee set up for this purpose to make a selection and makes it pointless to draw lots between the candidates.

However, this body has the right to include in the list the names disqualified by Gjoncaj if a political consensus is reached between the members of the majority and the opposition, or it can decide that the process for selecting new members starts from the beginning by announcing a new call for interest.

Gjoncaj's report was submitted almost 3 months late, even though the Constitution provides for a 10-day deadline for verifying the list. But, in the report, he announces that he has made a decision to suspend this deadline to wait for the answers from the institutions regarding the verification of the candidates' documentation.

The subcommittee is currently in the process of selecting new members from the ranks of lawyers for 2 vacant positions in each of the councils, a process that is being carried out outside the deadlines provided by law. The first list of 4 names that went to the Assembly was chosen by lot.

Even in the list of candidates from the bar, Gjonçaj disqualified some of them, being criticized by the opposition for exceeding his legal powers as well as for political influence from the majority in his work. Gjoncaj replied that he had implemented the rights recognized by the Constitution in the verification of candidates.

The mandate of 6 members of the councils has ended on December 31, 2023, but the process of selecting replacements, even though it started on time, failed to close according to the deadlines due to the court proceedings faced by the selection commissions set up by the People's Advocate and delay in their verification by the General Secretary of the Assembly. Reporter.al