Anuela Ristani addresses the CEC: should Erion Veliaj be paid while he is in prison?!
With an official letter addressed to the Central Election Commission, the Deputy Mayor of Tirana, Anuela Ristani, has requested legal interpretation on an issue that the Municipality admits it already has in practice: the continuation or non-continuation of the payment of the monthly salary for the Mayor, Erion Veliaj, who is under the security measure of "prison arrest".
In the document filed with the CEC, the Municipality of Tirana explains that from February 11, 2025 onwards, throughout the entire period that the austerity measure was in force, Erion Veliaj's monthly salary has been paid. It is precisely this situation created in practice that has prompted the Municipality to request an official clarification on the legal basis of this payment.
The letter is based on several legal references. First, the Municipality refers to the decision of the Constitutional Court of November 3, 2025, which annulled the decision of the Council of Ministers to dismiss Erion Veliaj from office. According to the Municipality, this decision has formally left Veliaj in the status of Mayor of Tirana, elected by the local elections of 2023, without a final act to remove his mandate.
On the other hand, the document acknowledges that the situation is problematic, as Veliaj is in a factual inability to exercise his function. For this reason, the Municipality refers to the standard procedures for the payment of salaries in the public sector, provided for in Instruction no. 30, dated 27.12.2011 “On the management of assets in public sector units”. In points 69–71 of this instruction it is emphasized that the payroll must be based on documentation proving the legal right to salary, as well as on acts justifying absence from work.
In this context, Anuela Ristani asks the CEC to clarify whether these provisions also apply to an elected local official who has not been dismissed, but is under arrest and does not actually exercise his/her duties. The request aims to determine which legal and sub-legal acts are applicable and whether the right to salary stems simply from the mandate obtained through elections or is also related to the effective exercise of the function.
Essentially, the Municipality’s letter is an admission that the payment of salaries has continued until now and an attempt to obtain an official interpretation that would legitimize or stop this practice. By passing the issue to the CEC, the Municipality avoids making a direct decision and shifts responsibility to the institution that administers the status of locally elected officials.
The CEC's response is expected to have weight not only in the case of Erion Veliaj, but also in similar cases in the future, clarifying whether the formal mandate of an elected official is sufficient to guarantee a public salary, even when exercising the function is practically impossible.
