With today's decision of the Court of Appeal to uphold the sentence of 1 year in prison, given by the First Degree, Ervin Salianji will not only end up behind bars, he will also lose his mandate as a deputy of the Democratic Party in the district of Korça.
Article 71.1 of the Constitution stipulates that the deputy loses his mandate when he is convicted by a final court decision for committing a crime.
The determination of the loss of his mandate will be formalized through the Council of Mandates in the Assembly, which notifies the Central Election Commission of the created vacancy.
When the CEC is notified that a vacancy has been created in the Assembly, it determines to which district and which political force the vacant mandate belongs.
The chances are that Salianj's mandate will go to the former prefect of the Korca district, Andrea Mano.
Mano, who previously led the local PD branch in Korça and ran for the post of mayor in 2011, is expected to be the youngest representative of the Democrats in Parliament.
He is also known for a clash with Salianji regarding the lists of PD candidates in 2021, where Mano was ranked very low in the Korça district, not having the chance to be elected deputy.
The chances are that according to the decriminalization law, Ervin Salianji will also be banned from running in the parliamentary elections of 2025, since the final sentence means that he will be banned from exercising public functions for 5 years.
In the meantime, it is worth underlining that the only legal option for Salianji to oppose or change this decision-making is the Supreme Court, in the event that within the 45-day deadline, the opposition legislator will appeal to it to oppose and request the annulment of the Appeal decision.
But, even if the case goes to the Supreme Court for consideration, this does not prevent Salianj from being sent to a cell, who will follow the process from prison.