Constitutional Imperative vs. Parliamentary Defiance in Albania: The Unresolved Case of an Alleged Mandate Incompatibility

By Arnisa Tepelija Introduction When can a constitutional court compel a democratically elected parliament to act against its will, or compel it to vote in a certain way? Or, to put it differently, can a parliament ignore the decisions of the constitutional court? These questions lie at the heart ofa protracted standoff between the National Assembly in Albania (the Assembly) and its Constitutional Court (the Court). For over two years, the parliamentary majority has repeatedly defied Constit...