The opposition will hold fresh protests Friday asking for early elections, despite fears from the international community it may degenerate to violence again.
Tirana Times
TIRANA, Feb. 3 – Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democratic Party has clearly accused the opposition Socialist Party and its leader Edi Rama of staging a failed coup d’etat on Jan. 21.
Despite that Albania’s opposition is planning a new protest rally Friday, in the wake of deadly anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital.
Berisha, his cabinet ministers and the investigative parliamentary commission created by the Democrats have all raised the tension in the country after the deadly clashes of Jan. 21 that killed three persons and injured more than 150 protesters and security officers.
Opposition lawmakers would make a request at the Constitutional Court to declare an investigative parliamentary commission, formed by the governing Democrats, as anti-constitutional.
“The coup d’etat has given a strong blow to the major project of the Albanian nation, the project of its integration into Europe,” Berisha also said at a cabinet meeting.
Besides mentioning a number of definitions of the coup d’etat in his daily events, the premier also stressed it at its report to the parliamentary commission.
Besides Berisha started a direct attack against President Bamir Topi, Prosecutor General Ina Rama, head of Shish intelligence police Bahri Shaqiri and also four journalsits considered as part of a big plot to take him out of power by force.
The commission’s probe process has sparked strong reactions not only from the opposition but also the other institutions, which are all accusing the governing Democrats of trying to violate the laws and the independence of institutions.
The president said that no one can ask a report from him, based on the constitution, and deni4d to go to their calling. The prosecutor general said that due to the law she cannot report over an issue which is under investigation at the moment and left the hall after that. Shaqiri’s report was postponed Wednesday but very likely he will also not accept to speak to the commission, which they say is trying to get extreme competences and also parallel work with the prosecutor’s office.
The international community has also clearly said that the parliamentary commission, which has only counseling powers and not legal ones, could only check if the investigation is conducted according to the laws but it cannot enter the sphere of the prosecutors.
What could turn into a more aggressive attitude towards the governing Democrats could be their request for four journalists to go to the commission, which Berisha said is not linked to their profession but as persons being part of that plot of the opposition.
The opposition is angry after the commission’s request to see telephone records of opposition lawmakers, the country’s president, its prosecutor general, the head of the secret police and journalists as part of a probe of the deadly clashes.
In all these developments the voice of the president seems not to attract much attention of the tense fighters in politics.
“The pressure of the powers on each other delays and compromises the independence of the analysis, opinion and judgment of the events and its actors,” said the president in a televised call, the first direct one since the Jan. 21 deadly riot.
The opposition will hold four rallies Friday _ in capital Tirana but also in northwestern Lezha, southwestern Vlora and southeastern Korca cities, all at the same time. It very much seems as a warm-up for another big rally in the capital.
Berisha has made it clear to the opposition that they are free in a democratic country to hold rallies but not violate the public institutions.
The opposition insists that the rallies will be peaceful. But what is going to be their result at the end.
The opposition wants early elections and has clearly said it is useless to consider or think over the May 8 local polls unless there is a transparency of the June 2009 ones.
At the same time the Socialists have repeated their call that the crisis can be resolved only with the direct intervention from the international community.
Rama on Sunday repeated his call to the international community to intervene to stop what it called the government’s attacks on independent institutions. The opposition is angry over a request by a parliamentary committee formed by the governing Democrats to see telephone records of opposition lawmakers, the country’s president, its prosecutor general and the head of the secret police as part of an investigation of the deadly clashes.
“With every day it becomes more difficult to keep up stability in this country,” Rama said at a news conference after a meeting of the opposition coalition.
“We are ready for dialogue and compromise but we shall never accept the status quo of this regime,” he said.
The European Union and the United States have urged restraint from the Socialists and the governing Democrats, who agreed to cancel a protest of their own scheduled for Saturday, calling on them to consider dialogue to manage political differences.
Albania has faced prolonged political tension since Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party narrowly won a general election in 2009 amid accusations of voter intimidation and ballot-box fraud.
That makes the job of the international community very difficult.
European Union’s Catherine Ashton sent clear messages to the Albanian political parties to sit down and talk a compromise to resolve the political conflict. They also urged the respect of the independent institutions, that is the prosecutor’s office which is under the government attack at the moment.
Her envoy Miroslav Lajcak was again in Tirana Thursday.
It seems that the opposition Socialists have achieved to attract the world attention.
At this moment there seems to be no way out or no light at the end of the tunnel as the opposition’s request is so maximal _ to oblige Berisha to resign and hold early elections.
