1The Chairperson of the Independent Ad Hoc Commission shall transmit to the Secretary General of the Assembly a list of names of the candidates who have obtained the highest scores, however, not more than 10 candidates and in any case no less than three times the number of vacancies. The list of names of the ranked candidates and the list of candidates who do not meet the legal conditions and criteria and the evaluation report shall be registered on the register of the protocol of the Assembly of Albania. Attached to it shall be the original or certified copies of the documentation of each candidate, along with the inventory of his file.

2The Secretary General of the Assembly shall, not later than 10 days from the day of submission of the list and associating documentation registered under paragraph 1 of this Article, verify, on the basis of the documentation submitted, whether the candidates meet the conditions provided for in the Constitution and Article 19 of this law. The Secretary General shall disqualify the candidates who, in his judgment, do not meet the conditions provided for in the Constitution and this law.

3Where the documentation of a candidate is not comprehensive enough to assess the meeting of constitutional and legal conditions and professional and moral criteria under Article 19 paragraph of this law, the Secretary General shall request the candidate to complete the documentation or submit additional documents within five days. The notice to complete the documentation or submit additional documentation shall be sent to the candidate on the electronic address being stated.

4Failure to submit the complementary documentation or additional documentation upon the expiry of the 5-day period does not suspend the process of final registration with the Assembly of the list of candidates and its associating documentation.

5The date on which the required documentation is completed or the deadline set for the completion of the documents shall be considered as the date of submission and registration with the Assembly of the list of candidates and associating documentation. The final submission shall be established by a registration number given by the protocol office of the Assembly.

6The Secretary General shall evaluate only the professional and moral criteria of the candidates who meet the conditions to be members of the High Judicial Council, as provided for in the Constitution and this law. The evaluation of professional and moral criteria of candidates by the Secretary General shall be made under the criteria set forth in Article 34 of this Law.

7The secretary General shall, upon the completion of the procedure provided for in paragraph 2 and 6 of this Article, draft the following documents:

aA list of names of the candidates who meet the conditions to be members of the High Judicial Council, as provided by the Constitution and this law;

bA list of names of the candidates who, in his judgement, do not meet the conditions to be members of the High Judicial Council, as provided by the Constitution and this law. The list of disqualified candidates shall indicate their names and the respective reasons of disqualification;

cA written report assessing the level of professional and moral criteria met by each candidate, relying on the process being conducted and the report prepared by the Independent Ad Hoc Commission.

8Disqualified candidates shall be informed in writing, in person and in a reasoned way on the disqualification via their email address being declared.

9The Secretary General shall send to the standing Committee responsible for legal affairs at the Assembly, within the next day following the day of the drafting of documents referred to in paragraph 7 of this Article, the lists together with the report referred to in paragraph 7, letter “c” of this Article and the documentation for each candidate. The lists and the report shall be published on the official website of the Assembly not later than 10 days after the recording of the list of candidates with the Assembly;

10The Secretary General shall be supported by the Assembly services when performing the tasks referred to in paragraphs 1 to 6 of this Article.

15The subcommittee, not later than three days from its creation, shall include in a list two candidates selected by the advocacy, two candidates from the ranks of pedagogues and the candidate from the civil society and shall send it to the Speaker of the Assembly through the chairperson of the subcommittee. The list of candidates shall be accompanied by a report on the result of assessment of professional and moral criteria conducted by the subcommittee.

11The Standing Committee responsible for legal affairs at the Assembly shall, not later than three days from the submission of the list by the Secretary General, create a subcommittee consisting of five MPs, three from the ranks of parliamentary majority and two from the ranks of parliamentary minority, for further evaluation and selection of candidates. The decision of establishing the subcommittee shall assign the chairperson of the subcommittee from among the members representing the parliamentary majority and the deputy chairperson of the subcommittee from among the members representing the parliamentary minority. Where one of the parties does not nominate its representatives to the sub-committee, the Standing Committee responsible for legal affairs shall establish the sub-committee representatives from other parliamentary groups, preserving the ratio between the parliamentary majority and minority. Where the establishment of the sub-committee is still not possible, the sub-committee shall be established with only the representatives of the parliamentary majority, however, with not less than 3 MPs.

12The Chairperson of the sub-committee shall convene the meeting of the sub-committee on the following business day after the day of its establishment. Participation in the sub-committee meetings is mandatory. The meetings shall be held where more than half of the members are present. Where one or some of the members of the sub-committee do not attend the meeting, the sub-committee shall continue working with the members being present. In such a case, the sub-committee shall elect the members of the High Judicial Council by lots from the list referred to in paragraph 7, letter “a” of this Article.

13The subcommittee, by at least four votes, may decide that candidates who are disqualified by the Secretary General be included in the list of candidates who meet the conditions to be members of the High Judicial Council, as provided by the Constitution and this law. In this event, the subcommittee shall publish the reasoning of this decision on the official website of the Assembly. The subcommittee shall merge into a single list the list of candidates meeting the criteria sent by the Secretary General and the candidate or candidates included by the subcommittee under this paragraph, where applicable. The list obtained in this way shall be considered the list of candidates for voting.

14Upon the completion of the procedure referred to in paragraph 13 of this Article, the subcommittee shall select the candidate for member of the High Judicial Council through an open voting procedure for all the candidates based on alphabetical order. The candidates who receive at least four votes of the subcommittee members shall be considered approved. Where at the end of the voting process, none of the candidates have received the minimum of four votes, the candidate shall be elected by lots. In the lots shall be included those candidates who are part of the voting list under the provisions of paragraph 13 of this Article. If no decision has been made in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 13, in the lots shall be included those candidates who are part of the list referred to in paragraph 7, letter “a” of this Article.

16The Assembly shall, within 10 days, approve the list of candidates by 2/3 of all members. In case the required majority is not reached, the subcommittee will approve a new list, according to the procedure set out in paragraph 12, 13 and 14 of this Article, within two days from the voting in the plenary session. The candidates of the first list shall not be excluded from the selection process in the subcommittee in the second round. The new list shall be submitted to the Speaker of the Assembly and put to vote in the next sitting of the Assembly, but not later than seven days from the submission of the list. The Assembly shall approve the list of candidates by 2/3 of all members. In case the Assembly fails to reach the 2/3 majority in the second voting, the subcommittee shall approve a new list, according to the procedure set out in paragraph 12, 13 and 14 of this Article, within two days from the latest voting in the plenary session. The candidates of the second list shall not be excluded from the selection process in the subcommittee in the third round. The new list shall be submitted to the Speaker of the Assembly and put to vote in the next sitting of the Assembly, but not later than seven days from the submission of the list. The Assembly shall approve the list of candidates by 2/3 of all members. In case the Assembly fails to reach the 2/3 majority even in the third voting, the candidates of this list shall be considered elected.

17The decision of the Assembly to approve the list of candidates shall be published in the very next issue of the Official Journal.

18In case of an early termination of mandate of the member of the High Judicial Council from the ranks of advocates, the Assembly shall elect immediately a new member from the list of candidates for voting, according to paragraph 13 of this Article. In this case, the procedures and time periods referred to in paragraph 14 of this Article shall apply, upon the verification of availability of candidates to serve in the High Judicial Council.

19The Standing Committee responsible for legal affairs at the Assembly shall approve a regulation on the organisation and functioning of the subcommittee for the selection of candidates for members of the High Judicial Council, which shall contain rules on the manner of selection of members of the subcommittee, voting method in the subcommittee, drawing of the lots, the verification of availability of candidates according to paragraph 15 of this Article.