Opposition stuck to vote recount for transparency

TIRANA, March 24 – The opposition Socialist Party insisted that without a vote recount there could be secured no transparency for the future voting.
The opposition has planned to convene over the weekend to plan how to proceed with their presence at the parliament. There has been no mention of any resumption of the boycott which they did for six months until last month.
The Socialists turned down a proposal by Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democratic Party for a group of 100 prosecutors to be formed to carry out the investigation of any voting centre or ballot box following presentation of evidence from the opposition, which says they were marred by fraud. They are not asking a change of the results, ie. increasing the number of seats they have in parliament.
The opposition has 65 of the parliament’s 140 seats and the governing Democrats and allies control 75 seats.
Last week the parliament created an investigative commission that was approved only by 71 votes from the Democratic Party. The Socialists opposed that after withdrawing their request for the commission when their request for opening of a number of ballot boxes was turned down.
Although the commission had been working for weeks, the parties failed to agree on whether it will be granted permission to recount the election ballots and used a marathon hearing to exchange jibes with each other.
Meanwhile the international community is urging both sides to sit down again and try to reach a solution.
The Socialist-led opposition has said they are planning to hold protests around the country and warn they will start in a month’s time.