Albania in 2009

TIRANA, Jan 5 – The upcoming parliamentary elections in mid-2009 are a main concern this year.
Last month, the parliament approved two controversial bills, including a new law regulating the prosecution services and an electoral code for the 2009 parliamentary election.
Both laws were contested by the prosecutors and also the political parties. Prosecutors challenged the bill, arguing that it will limit their independence from the executive and make them more vulnerable to political pressure.
Local analysts even claim the new law raises important questions about the division of powers between the various branches of government.
The electoral code has also raised a political storm among smaller parties, which claim it could effectively wipe them off the parliamentary map.
Many consider the approval of the two controversial laws to be a compromise between the governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the main opposition Socialist Party of Tirana mayor Edi Rama.
The smaller political parties say the new law aims at strengthening their (Berisha-Rama) hold on politics and even renders them immune from possible prosecution.
Meta, together with Nard Ndoka, head of the Christian Democrats, Petro Koci, leader of another splinter group from the Socialists and seven other deputies staged a temporary hunger strike on November 10 to win support for their objections to the new code.
Berisha returned to power in Tirana in 2005 on a “Clean Hands” platform, promising to rid the country of the endemic corruption that has plagued it since the communist regime fell in 1991. But his opponents claim corruption in Albania has only worsened.
Many believe the law on prosecutors was passed only to prevent the prosecution of major corruption involving government members, including Berisha himself.
The new electoral code has sparked a bitter dispute between small political parties and the larger parties, particularly on the left where Socialist leader Rama faces a strong challenge to his position by Meta.
Further, Albania’s minor parties complain that the new system of proportional representation will greatly reduce the number of seats they hold in parliament after the next general election.
Under a new regional code, the threshold to enter parliament will range from 3 percent in densely populated Tirana to 25 percent in sparsely populated Kukes. As a result, smaller parties will lose out in certain regions, decreasing their overall representation.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Tirana while the hunger-strike lasted, through November 17, when the new code was approved in parliament.
The code was later returned to parliament after being rejected by President Bamir Topi due to a technicality. In the meantime, Berisha has put pressure on the Socialist leader to lend his approval.
The new code strengthens competencies of the prime minister and both leaders’ position in their respective parties.
Now the president is expected to decree the election day by January 22 and that is expected to be either June 21 or June 28, the last two Sundays of the month.