Electoral reform, presidential election occupies politics

TIRANA, Jan. 11 – The electoral reform and the election of the new president were the two main issues debated in the country’s politics this week. The opposition Socialist Party will hold a commemoration process or rally Jan. 21 for the four who died a year ago in a protest in front of a government building. While the president is expected to be voted by parliament in summer, June or July, the two main political groupings have already started to debate how the new president should be elected. But the electoral reform seems to be more in focus of the political agenda. The opposition political parties, led by the Socialist party of Edi Rama, have already started to get the opinion of their allies. Rama met this week with his allies and the Socialists made it openly clear they would be in favor of changing the voting process from a partially proportional to a national proportional one as the smaller parties have long insisted. Such an idea has been turned down by the governing Democrats of Prime Minister Sali Berisha who have said the reform should not cover the system, but only the process, its management and application. In that context the Central Election Commission on Wednesday also presented a series of amendments covering administration and management topics. They said it is up to political parties and the parliament to decide on the voting system and they were offering advice based on the OSCE-ODIHR and Venice Commission recommendations. Both parties agree that the voting system should change. They have already stated some contacts or meetings and have created a parliamentary commission to deal with the issue. But in practice there is little or, better say, nothing done. The international community has repeated they are open to offer assistance if asked to. But the Albanian political parties are too much focused on the daily political agenda. What is that, besides some words on the electoral reform? It is calling names on each other. It is the talk on the new political party that President Bamir Topi may create soon and which may be a burden to the governing Democrats ahead of parliamentary elections next year. It is also the talk on the country’s economy. On one side, the government and the premier hail the successes they have achieved and insist on further GDP growth this year. On Wednesday Berisha also said how the government would involve agricultural development into a digital one. The opposition, on the other side, says agriculture is almost at a medieval status. Meanwhile, people think more of the daily things they need, like fuel which is expected to increase its price more following new taxes. They want cheaper medicines, which is likely to increase the price with a new government order.
People also want to know more on what the government and the opposition are doing to fulfill the 12 recommendations of the European Union. The government has expressed hope that the bloc may agree to give the candidate status to Albania even in March. But people think twice and say how that can happen, how can Europe be convinced so easily, in a matter of months, that Albania has fulfilled the required reforms when it did not do them for two years?! It is good there is a new breathing space between the two political parties. But Europe, the international actors and Albanians too want to see some tangible achievements.