TIRANA, Dec. 4 – Dashamir Shehi, a longtime member of Albania’s parliament and a member of the ad hoc electoral reform committee, says all parties in Albania agree the current electoral system has done more harm than good and should change.
Shehi’s proposal as a compromise between the opposition and the ruling majority is to have two thirds of lawmakers being elected through direct races in electoral zones and the other one third through a national proportional system.
“The current system is inappropriate, and we all agree on this,” Shehi told the Panorama newspaper in an interview. “Through the system I propose, it will give the public a chance to directly pick their representative while also allowing parties to keep their top performers in office.”
He also says the number of lawmakers should be lowered to 110, down from the current 140.
“This country is too small to have so many MPs,” Shehi said.
Shehi is the leader of the National Movement for Development, but was elected through being in the lists of the main opposition Democratic Party.
He says the two large parties have historically tried to have a system that makes it very hard for small parties to make it to parliament.
Shehi’s stance is similar to some proposals out of the Democratic Party, whose leader, Lulzim Basha, had said he would be open to a 100-member parliament elected through a pure majoritarian system.
Albania currently as a regional proportional system that has come under criticism for giving voters very little choice in electing their direct representatives to parliament.
