TIRANA, March 21 – Prime Minister Edi Rama said this week general elections would take place on June 18 as scheduled despite the opposition’s threat to boycott them unless Rama resigns and allows a caretaker government to manage the elections and guarantee that they are free and fair.
“The absence of the opposition would be a severe anomaly, but we will not be part of such a lack of respect toward the people. We will abide by the election date and commit to the electoral campaign like never before. These are the times we want to create a better future for the Albania of the next generation,” Rama said.
However, Rama’s junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta, has said the elections must have the main opposition Democratic Party’s participation in order to protect the country’s stability.
The opposition leader, Lulzim Basha, said no elections can take place without the opposition’s participation and the Democratic Party would not take part unless elections can be guaranteed to be free and fair and outside the influence of criminal world, which, the opposition says, is expected to invest billions in marijuana profits to help the Socialist Party stay in power.
