New ministers decreed and voted

TIRANA, March 19 – Albanian President Alfred Moisiu on Monday decreed the six new moves of the government reshuffle in a ceremony where Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli did not participate in a show of the continuous frictions among the country’s institutions. They were all voted in parliament later in the afternoon. Now on Gazmend Oketa is deputy Prime Minister, Ilir Rusmali is justice minister, Nard Ndoka minister of health, Bujar Nishani interior minister, Ylli Pango minister of tourism, culture, youth and sports, and Majlinda Bregu minister of integration and government spokesman as well.
Berisha had reshuffled his cabinet a week ago in an effort to give a boost to reforms needed for the country’s integration efforts into the international institutions. The reshuffle came a month after the local polls where Berisha lost the major cities but won in most of the rural areas.
Moisiu deplored the lack of presence of the two top officials. “President of the Republic is sorry that the prime minister, by not taking part at the oath of the ministers he proposed, did not become part of the constitutional procedure and the state protocol,” said a statement by the presidential press office.
Premier’s press office responded deplored the statement mentioning the full agenda of the day. But also adding at the end that the lack of presence at the ceremony was also linked “with the systematic non-respect of the constitution from Mr. President.”
What was noted at the parliament vote was the fact that some opposition parliamentarians voted in favor of the new ministers, a sign which was attributed differently from the two sides. Ndoka got the most of the votes and some opposition MPs said that was a sign to Berisha that his party at last was included in the governing coalition. Some other parliamentarians said they voted in favor just for fun. While the governing coalition interpreted it as a sign of the frictions existing among the opposition coalition and also showing that they could secure the required votes for the new president in June.
Berisha’s Democratic Party-led center-right ten-party coalition governs the country since September 2005 after winning in general elections to replace opposition Socialist-led coalition. Last month the country held local polls, which international observers considered as “a missed opportunity” because of shortcomings, where the governing Democrats lost the major cities and mainly won in rural areas. A joint statement of the U.S., EU and OSCE Tuesday criticized both political groupings for the Shijak elections and called on them to immediately start electoral reform now. Despite that Berisha repeated that as far as his government was concerned and linked the Feb.18 and Shijak elections were free and fair.
Albania expects to become a full NATO member next year and it has also signed a pre-membership deal with the European Union.