Clashes Between Premier And President

TIRANA, June 5 – What was long expected following the recent political clashes among the governing coalition members was recently reflected in an open clash between the governing Democratic party’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha and President Bamir Topi elected from that party less than a year ago.
The contested issue was the nomination of five new judges for the Supreme Court that were decreed by Topi.
But Berisha and his party were displeased with the way Topi had decided to choose them. They said that according to the interpretation of the Constitution Court on such a previous cases, the president should be normally consulted with the two main political groupings in the parliament before decreeing new judges.
That was not done by Topi and the parliament has not put them on the agenda saying that they should first ‘check’ the nominees’ previous experience and the like. New Supreme Court judges are normally decreed by the country’s president and then voted in parliament.