Issuing certificates blocked in Tirana

TIRANA, Aug. 29 – Long queues of Albanians waiting to receive a certificate did not receive anything on Monday. Many of Tirana sub-municipalities run from the Socialists declared they would not issue them because they lacked the proper ones with identity number for Tirana. They said that if they used other ones from other districts would be a penal violation and that would also serve the ruling Democratic Party to manipulate the upcoming local elections. For one day hundreds not to say thousands of Albanians did not receive anything and the issue turned into a political one. The ruling authorities first said that certificates from other districts were correct to use, and later declared they would distribute new ones for Tirana blaming the local Socialist-run authorities of delaying the request for them. Prime Minister Sali Berisha was harsh while speaking in Kavaja, where he was inaugurating some new roads, saying that local authorities would be penalized for not issuing certificates. As expected in this hot political situation representatives of local authorities in Tirana responded saying that Berisha should first try to avoid violation of the constitution and supply them with the proper documentation.