One of many tales on national stereotypes that wanders around tells of an Englishman and a German stuck in their cars in front of each other in a narrow, one-way street in Ibiza. Apparently identifying each other’s nationalities from the number plates, no one decided to open the way to the other, no one gave in. They turned the engines off and stubbornly stayed in their positions, until police came to sort out the chaos caused.
Albania’s post-election period resembles this tale of exaggerated stereotypes. By inviting the Social Movement for Integration in a governing coalition, the Democratic Party barely made it to gather the needed seats in Parliament to stay in power. The Socialists lost, rejected the long-drawn result of the elections arguing that the counting process had been manipulated. Six months after the June 28th elections and three months after the resumption of Parliament’s activity, Albania’s opposition continues its boycott of Parliament.
The generally tense post-election period has precipitated these past days. Nothing in the current political speech resembles ‘dialogue’. Hopes of consensus and a political solution to the situation seem to have gone down the drain and political rhetoric is full of personal attacks and grave accusations. That little of a spirit of consensual politics that we saw in the many months before elections is way gone, a wishful thought. All bridges seem burned and the path to political collapse paved.
While the direction this open political conflict is taking is yet to be seen, governance stands still, paralysed in many respects. With such a sizeable opposition out of Parliament, and the intensification of conflict leading parties to electoral campaign mode and grassroots mobilisation, the progress of key reforms for visa liberalisation which continues to be a primary concern of Albanians is paralysed; reform of the judiciary, the foul state of which is another great grievance of Albanians is paralysed etc.
As the parties at conflict have exhausted their own means at a compromise, alternative initiatives are needed immediately. A NATO member and a country that is expecting to become a candidate for EU membership cannot allow itself to degenerate to political collapse, and cannot allow itself the high costs of such a political deadlock.
Alternatives and efforts for a solution must be brewed and led by domestic actors as a sign of Albania’s political maturity. The leadership of international actors is typical of failed states, of states incapable of ruling themselves. The institution of the President of the Republic, for instance, by virtue of its formal standing above political parties, is a suitable figure to lead efforts towards a political solution to this conflict. And these efforts must be made without further delay. The President can no longer allow himself to state that he will play his role ‘if/when asked’. The gravity of the situation demands pro-activeness, and certainly not a weak President.
