Albanian Times: “Parliament Struggles to Overcome Albania’s Presidential Deadlock”

Albanian Times: “Parliament Struggles to Overcome Albania’s Presidential Deadlock”

SP Whip Blushi accused Premier Berisha of transforming the talks into a farce, while the latter declared to have played the game fairly

TIRANA - The majority and opposition debated in the marathon plenary session on Wednesday and Thursday early hours on the election of the new president, holding each other responsible for the political impasse.

Lawmakers have failed twice to elect a new president. Earlier this week, Albania's two main political parties submitted lists of potential candidates — but immediately rejected the other side's proposals.

If Parliament fails to vote on a candidate during the third round, the constitution calls for dissolving the legislature and holding elections within 60 days — a possible outcome since rules also stipulate that the last two voting sessions be based on candidates introduced during earlier rounds.

President Alfred Moisiu's term expires July 24.
The president is chosen by at least a three-fifths majority in parliament, or 84 of the legislature's 140 seats. The Democrats have 80 seats, too few to overcome an opposition boycott.

The Socialists have threatened to boycott the presidential election unless they are allowed to present their own candidate. The party argues that when it was in government in 2002, it allowed the Democrats to present Moisiu as a consensus candidate, and has now demanded it be allowed to present its own choice for the post.
Talks between the two main parties — the governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and main opposition Socialist party of the Tirana Mayor Edi Rama — have failed to produce any result.

It is not clear how the voting will proceed since a candidate needs to introduce a request signed by 20 lawmakers, which has not been done yet.
The parliament seemed to reach a deadlock with no candidate presented for a vote.
The opposing parties did not reach any consensus but blamed each other for the failure of the process.

"It's better an honored end than a disgraced failure," said Berisha, urging the opposition to hold the vote in a sign of respect for the constitution.
Opposition Socialists blamed Berisha personally for the failure and said they were ready to continue talks, also urging the premier to meet their leader and decide on the new president.


(Albanian Daily News - iht)