Agreement brokered by U.S. – EU – U.K. on the line
TIRANA, July 8 – Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that he is ready to support the idea of open lists as part of the election system, a statement that has not been well-received by the U.S., the EU and the U.K. which mediated the June 5th agreement on the electoral reform.
The PM’s statement comes after the latest meeting between the represenatives of the government and the opposition, who insist on a constitutional change as regards the election system, otherwise they will back off from the common agreement between the two.
He said he was aware that the international community had asked him not to take such a step, but denied that this violated the June 5 agreement, stating that the agreement has been reached willfully.
Earlier, Ambassador Yuri Kim stressed that the June 5th agreement between the government and the opposition is closed and therefore each party is expected to follow through with it.
At the same time, the OSCE spoke to Rama about the impossibility of extreme changes a year before the elections.
Furthermore, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi made it clear that the European Commission does not support initiatives to change the electoral system a few months before the election.
“Other reforms related to the electoral system, outside the OSCE / ODIHR recommendations, should be approved no less than a year before the elections and require appropriate consultation, as recommended by the OSCE,” he wrote in a Twitter post.
In response, the Prime Minister has claimed that he will not change the June 5 agreement, but instead will add more to it. However, one of the 15 EU conditions states that any changes made to the electoral system must be consenual, rather than unilateral, thus casting doubt over Rama
As a result, the Prime Minister has been under fire by the international community for putting the agreement on the line, at the same time marking his first serious clash with the internationals since he took over the government in 2013.
Nevertheless, it is yet to see how far this agreement may be on the line, or how the international community will further respond to the government’s and/or the opposition’s attempts.
The government and the opposition reached an agreement on the electoral reform on June 5, after lengthy discussions regarding the depoliticization of the election administration, one of the basic OSCE / ODIHR recommendations.
Based on the agreement, the same structure will remain as regards representatives of political parties. The issue of depoliticization was not well-received by the opposition representatives, as they were reluctant towards the fact that public administration officials would be involved in election commissions, therefore leading to the ruling party backing down.
