The Constitutional Reform in Albania

Abstract

The Constitution protects and guarantees the rights of citizens, as well as it organize the powers inside the state. The Albanian constitution, with the changes of 2008, deformed the sovereignty of the people, as well as it made de facto the government unaccountable before the parliament. This hasty constitutional changes produced a powerful prime minister that controls almost all the powers of the state. Seeing these consequences, this paper clarifies the main milestones where the constitutional reform in Albania should be focused, with the aim that the sovereignty of the people to be fully implemented as it is required by the constitution and by the democratic system. The main milestones of the reform are; the changs of the electoral system, the accountability of the government before the parliament, the direct election of the president, as well as the the application of referendums. These are the main topics that we will treat in this paper, based on constitutional law, on the decision of the Constitutional Court, as well as in the literature that has in focus this field.

Received: 19 October 2023 / Accepted: 13 December 2023 / Published: 23 December 2023