TIRANA – The Constitutional Court of Albania has rejected the parliament’s request to dismiss President Ili Meta from his post. The Constitutional Court has rejected the Socialists’ claims in the first draft of its ruling. In June last year, the Assembly convened and MPs voted in favor of the president’s impeachment citing serious constitutional infringements. During the April electoral campaign, Meta accused the government of being involved in preparation to rig the elections, of colluding with criminal gangs to buy voters, and called on people to defend their votes. This was the first time in the country’s pluralist history that a president gets discharged by the Assembly before the expiration of his mandate, setting a precedent in the Albanian political scene.