TIRANA, May 6 – Some 22 MPs of the opposition Socialist Party and 180 of their supporters continued their hunger strike for the sixth day in Albania’s capital on Thursday. They are demanding the government hold a recount of the country’s parliamentary election held last summer.
The protest and strike continued as Tirana Times went to press on Thursday night, with the opposition calling for another massive rally on May 9.
The hunger strike was launched last weekend after a massive rally the country’s biggest opposition party and its allies held over the transparency of last year’s June 28 general elections.
The strikers set up a tent on Saturday in front of the office of Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Tirana’s Deshmoret e Kombit Blvd., the city’s main government district throughway, and have barricaded themselves inside.
The Socialist leaders say protests will be a daily occurrence until the government fulfils their request.
Edi Rama, the leader of the Socialists and mayor of Tirana has called for protests to be held throughout the country, urging Albanians to erect a “human barricade against the government.”
The Socialists and their smaller political allies on the left have informed the police that they intend to protest for an entire month.
Berisha and Rama have been locked in a stalemate over the results of the June 28, 2009 parliamentary elections, which Berisha’s party narrowly won.
The Socialists have boycotted parliament since the new session began in September, claiming that the government’s alleged fraud was to blame for their electoral loss.
They have conditioned their full participation in parliament on a recount of the electoral ballots of the parliamentary poll.
Although declaring his openness to a parliamentary investigation of the election, Berisha has stubbornly rejected the possibility of a recount. He argues that the opposition has exhausted all legal options and that he cannot override the judicial process.
Despite mediation from the Albanian President Bamir Topi and the Council of Europe, both sides remain firm in their position, while the stalemate is stagnating the country’s progress toward European Union integration.
Strikers’ health deteriorating
One of the Members of Parliament, Klodiana Spahiu was evacuated in the early hours of Monday morning and taken to hospital due to serious stomach problems, while three hunger strikers suffering from diabetes were also forced to leave on advice of the doctors, due to the risk of serious complications to their health.
Two other citizen strikers were also taken to hospital because of complications.
The medical staff has warned that the health of another MP who suffers from diabetes is also at risk.
