TIRANA, July 20 – Bamir Topi, deputy governing Democratic party leader, was elected Friday as Albania’s new president with the help of opposition lawmakers who broke their coalition’s boycott and voted for Topi.
The vote was greeted with relief as Albania’s bickering political parties, the governing Democratic Party-led coalition of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the opposition Socialist Party-led coalition of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama, had failed to elect a president in three previous parliamentary votes and threatened to take the country to new general elections.
Celebratory fireworks went off outside the parliament building and hundreds of supporters hailed Topi outside his party’s headquarters building, which is close to the parliament.
In a first reaction, Topi said one of his priorities would be to help reconcile the two political groups.
“My fundamental pledge is to respect the constitution, establish a full balance in the Albanian political climate, and take the country ahead in its main two challenges _ integration into NATO and the European family,” Topi said after the election.
Topi, 50, a biologist who previously served as agriculture minister, is due to take office on Monday, replacing President Alfred Moisiu a day before his term would expire. Moisiu was elected five years ago with a rare consensus between political parties.
Had Friday’s vote failed, lawmakers would have had just one more chance to chose a president before, by law, Parliament would be dissolved, with new elections held within 60 days. Such a failure would have been considered a serious setback in Albania’s integration efforts into NATO and the European Union.
In Friday’s vote, lawmakers cast 85 votes for Topi, one more than required in the 140-seat Parliament to secure the presidency, which has powers over the country’s judiciary and armed forces.
Several opposition lawmakers broke rank with their own coalition to join the 80-member governing coalition in the vote.
That will likely have other consequences in the opposition coalition, and especially the main Socialist Party.
It was clear that opposition lawmakers belonged to the group supporting their former leader, Fatos Nano, who was ousted from the race after Neritan Ceka’s entrance at the third vote.
Nano has threatened he will start a new group within the party, which does not mean a new party but a faction that might disrupt its normal functioning.
Challenging candidate Neritan Ceka, of the small opposition Democratic Alliance, got just five votes, while the rest of the opposition coalition boycotted the vote, demanding Topi withdraw from the race.
The opposition Socialists wanted their own choice for president to go through, arguing that when they were in government in 2002, they allowed the Democrats to nominate Moisiu as a consensus candidate. Moisiu was elected with 97 votes.
Topi said he had received his first message of congratulations from Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, saying it gave “an extraordinary indicative signal that all together we are waiting for Kosovo’s independence, which is in the interest of peace in the region and global peace.”
Topi has been elected three times as a lawmaker during Albania’s post-communist period.
He is married, and has two daughters.
