The Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party of Albania has requested a 60-day exclusion from Parliament for the head of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party of Albania, Taulant Balla.
In the document submitted to the Secretariat for Procedures, Voting, and Ethics, the Democratic deputies argue that the head of the PS has continuously insulted and threatened female deputies of the PD.
On the other hand, the Socialist Party of Albania has submitted requests for disciplinary measures against Democratic deputies Flamur Noka, Elda Hoti, and Albana Vokshi, following the incident during yesterday's session in the Assembly.
According to the PS's request, Flamur Noka is proposed for a 60-day exclusion from the Assembly, while Elda Hoti and Albana Vokshi are each proposed for a 30-day exclusion.
The Ethics Secretariat is expected to review these requests and decide on disciplinary measures in the coming days.
On April 2, 2026, at 10:00 AM, the plenary session of the Assembly of Albania was held. While deputy Elda Hoti was asking deputy Bora Muzhaqi to stop speaking, as it was her turn to speak unfairly denied by the Assembly Chairman Niko Peleshi, the head of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party, deputy Taulant Balla, stood up and addressed deputy Hoti with offensive and threatening expressions. This offensive, insulting, discriminatory, and threatening language prompted an immediate reaction from the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party, which requested Assembly Chairman Niko Peleshi to take the disciplinary measure of excluding deputy Taulant Balla from the plenary session. Under the refusal to take disciplinary action, the session was interrupted twice and then proceeded to vote on draft laws without discussion, in flagrant violation of the freedom of expression of deputies registered to speak, guaranteed by the Constitution and the Assembly's Rules of Procedure. During the same session, deputy Taulant Balla used non-parliamentary language that violated the dignity of deputy Fatmir Mediu. He went so far as to conclude his speech with the words "go f*** yourself" in the plenary session.
Returning to the specific case, it appears that the head of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party, deputy Taulant Balla, used offensive, insulting, discriminatory, and threatening language, entirely unacceptable, directed at the Secretary of the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party, deputy Elda Hoti, severely violating her dignity and physical safety. This offensive and threatening language severely damages the reputation and trust of citizens in the Assembly and deputies, as well as spreads the message of normalizing such language towards girls and women. This behavior by deputy Balla is repeated, as the same individual in the plenary session on March 5, 2026, used offensive and sexist language towards deputy Albana Vokshi, addressing her: "We said we would ask you once, but we didn't have time. Really, really, really, really, we didn't have your phone number to call you and say, hey, what do you think about this? Yes, 0900 because I have this number for you, for you Albana, obviously."
In this sense, this request aims to prevent the recurrence of similar cases in the future by the recidivist Balla or other deputy colleagues who do not respect even the minimum norms of ethics towards female colleagues, deputies of the Assembly of Albania, through disciplinary punishment of deputy Taulant Balla. Therefore, considering the above, in support of Articles 62, 63, 65/1, and 65/2 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of Albania, and Articles 3, 5, and 6 of the Code of Conduct for Deputies, we request the immediate disciplinary measure of "Exclusion from participation in committees and plenary sessions for 60 days" against deputy Taulant Balla.
The request is signed by 7 Democratic deputies, led by the head of the parliamentary group of the PD.
The deputies who signed are Gazment Bardhi, Klodiana Çapja, Klevis Balliu, Ina Zhupa, Xhelal Mziu, Kliti Hoti, Fatmir Mediu.