In an open and unanimous vote, Socialist municipal councilors and their Democratic rivals joined forces on Tuesday to propose the dismissal of Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, who is awaiting trial in prison on charges of corruption and money laundering.
His dismissal was based on Article 62 of the Law "On Local Self-Government", which provides for the procedure in the event that the mayor is absent from duty for more than 3 months, while the procedure provides that the decision is formalized with the approval of the Council of Ministers.
Setting a political precedent, it was the Socialist councilors themselves who initiated Veliaj's dismissal after Prime Minister Edi Rama publicly instructed the initiation of the procedure with the argument that the city needed an acting mayor.
The same argument was also articulated by the Mayor of Tirana, Megi Fino, who described the request as an 'urgent need' for the city. "Today we are fulfilling our political and moral obligation to resolve Tirana's political impasse," said Fino.
Tuesday's meeting was preceded by an exchange of letters between the City Council and Veliaj, after the imprisoned mayor requested that he be given the right to speak at the meeting and contested the procedures followed by the council as illegal. Several opposition councilors also considered his defense before the council to be a legal right, but Veliaj's request was rejected by his former associates.
Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, a close associate of Rama and projected as his successor at the head of the Socialist Party, was in his third term when he was arrested by the Special Prosecution Office on charges of creating a corrupt scheme between companies and NGOs linked to his wife, Ajola Xoxa, and a group of businessmen close to him.
On September 10 of this year, SPAK sent Veliaj, Xoxa, former socialist MP Klotilda Bushka and 15 others to trial. Veliaj has been charged with 13 counts, including corruption, money laundering and even keeping illegal items in his cell during detention.
Veliaj was first introduced to the Albanian public in 2004 with the leadership of the Mjaft movement, a movement that led protests against the ruling socialist government led by Fatos Nano.
With the departure of the Socialist Party from power, Veliaj left civil activism and entered politics, founding a new political party, G99, and running in the 2009 parliamentary elections but failing to enter parliament.
He joined the Socialist Party in 2011 and after coming to power in 2013, Prime Minister Edi Rama appointed him Minister of Social Welfare and Youth and later supported him as the Socialist candidate for Tirana.
