Fredi Beleris has been removed from his position as mayor of Himara, Albania without being sworn in following a decision reached by the Central Electoral Commission.
Beforehand, the mayor-elect had been transferred from the prison to the commission building for the meeting and the announcement of the decision, as he had previously said he wanted to be “present” during the process.
Following its review of the case, the Electoral Commission (CEC) decided that Beleris would forcefully lose out on his term as mayor of Himara.
Beleris has 30 days to decide whether to appeal against the decision of the CAC. The Chief Commissioner of the electoral commission, Ilirjan Celibashi, stressed that the commission does not favor anyone and that the decision was not taken to harm anyone’s interests, as reported by ximara.gr.
However, Beleri’s lawyer has claimed that the CEC does not have the power to cancel his term of office because he never had the opportunity to exercise his duties as mayor. Celibashi repudiated that the CEC does not hold this power, especially in cases in which candidates have been convicted of criminal offences.
Under the decriminalization law, people convicted of certain crimes are not permitted to hold public office. The decision reached by the JPC has provoked a reaction from the Democratic Party, which claims the commission is being biased.
Fredi Beleris and vote buying
There will now be another round of elections in Himara. Beleris had been elected on May 14th as head of the Himara municipality, but just two days before the result, he was arrested for vote-buying.
Following his arrest, Beleris claimed he was unaware he could no longer hold office as mayor after such a conviction. He thus asked for a final opportunity to respect the constitution and laws of Albania and be permitted to be sworn in as mayor.
In his statement, he said that just as he was permitted to leave the prison for a short time to attend the meeting, the prison administration may allow him to attend the Himara municipality to complete his swearing-in ceremony.
“Today’s decision by the Albanian Central Electoral Commission to disqualify Fredi Beleri without even having been sworn in as mayor of Himara is a novel practice and the foreshadowed conclusion of a process with many questions in relation to fundamental principles of the rule of law,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also stressed: “Greece had in time expressed its strong concern about the deprivation of the presumption of innocence, the integrity of the evidentiary process, the ban on swearing in and the disproportionate sentence imposed, as well as the fact that the Municipality of Himara has been run for a year by unauthorized persons.”
