EU Commision Spokesperson, Ana Pisonero, urged Albanian leaders to refrain from breaking off the electoral reform agreement reached on June 5.
In a Twitter post, Pisonero emphasized the importance of fulfilling the OSCE/ODHIR recommendations and added that any amendments should not violate the June 5 agreement between the government and the opposition.
“It is crucial that the 5 June agreement on electoral reform in Albania is preserved, given the necessity to fulfill OSCE/ODHIR recommendations, a condition set by the Council last March prior to first IGC. Any additional legislative changes should not jeopardize this primary goal,” Pisonero wrote.
Earlier this week, the SP and the parliamentary opposition agreed to an open-list system, which stipulates that the voters will be able to choose 2/3 of the deputies in the parties’ list, while 1/3 will be decided by the political parties based on gender representation. Through this agreement, clauses 1 and 2 in articles 64 and 68 of the Albanian Constitution will be amended in order to provide open lists, but will make it impossible from now on to enter the elections with pre-electoral coalitions.
Prime Minister Edi Rama responded to the international community by stating that the agreement will not be violated, although he will go through with the open list system.
“The Parliament of Albania is sovereign. And in the Parliament of Albania will be decided as the representatives of the Albanian people in this hall think, in respect of the June 5 Agreement on the one hand, and in respect of more than 80 percent of Albanians on the other hand, who want to have the right to elect a deputy and not just the party. These are both facts which all our friends and partners should live with,” he said during the plenary session on Thursday.
On his part, President Ilir Meta stated that the majority’s initiative unilaterally breaks the agreement. He stressed that the current parliament has no legitimacy to make constitutional changes, while adding that the initiative itself was undertaken in violation of the Constitution, during a period of natural disaster, a time when acts are not allowed to change the basic law of the state.
Moreover Meta said that the proposals contradict the constitution, as Article 96 recognizes the pre-election coalitions. This way, President Meta will not recognize the amendments, if approved by the parliament.
“As a guarantor of the Constitution and the unity of the people, I call on everyone to be accountable and reflective, and at the same time I will exercise all my constitutional responsibilities to curb, paralyze and at the same time devalue such an unprecedented action in three decades of pluralism. Such a unilateral act will not be recognized by the Institution of the President of the Republic,” Meta said.
