Key power in the hands of an unlikely few

TIRANA, April 11 – The presidential election and the electoral reform are the main issues of concern for the country’s politics these days.
The parliament should elect the new president likely in June and by the end of April the two main political partiesشhe governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the main opposition Socialist Party of Edi Ramaנshould bring to a close their work on the electoral reform.
Neither the first nor the second seems to be happening. Democrats and Berisha have insisted that the new president will be elected based on the constitution and from among their ranks.
But the Democrats have yet to offer their candidate. There have been voices that Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli could be their candidate but neither the party nor Topalli herself have made public such an idea.
There is also former Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano who made public his candidacy. There have been reluctant voices from all sides on him. The democrats have said the new candidate will come from their supporters. The opposition Socialists say that Nano is not going to be their candidate as he has distanced himself from the party in the last years.
What remains important and curious is the stand of the smaller political parties.
The Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta has hinted they may support him. Still Meta said Wednesday that the name of the new candidate is not that important when compared to the democratic process.
But Meta has also said when speaking to his supporters that the election of the president is of primary importance along the country’s progress into the European Union. In other words it means that Meta’s party with three lawmakers may be decisive in its election.
Without Meta they cannot secure 71 votes. One among their ranks left for a soon to be founded political party, that of President Bamir Topi. Though, Topi may lead it only after ending his presidential term. But for the moment he is telling Berisha and the Democrats he has the numbers to destroy their plans. There have been voices that two or three other Democratic lawmakers may leave those ranks and join Topi’s future party.
It remains in the hands of Meta’s three lawmakers, those two of the Cham party and a few other parliamentarians of smaller political parties to decide who is going to be the next president.
The same could be said for the electoral reform.
True that the Democrats and the Socialists are trying to abide by the requests of the smaller parties. They have already decided to turn to the electronic counting, a move that for sure is going to give more votes to the smaller parties. The opposition Socialists, at least, have also said they will respect the request of the smaller parties and turn the electoral voting into a national proportional one from the regional proportional one that is currently in place.
The role of the smaller political parties gets more importance at a time when the two main political groupings seem to be losing votes from the undecided voters who see no clear prospects either at the government or the opposition.
All these development also mean that early elections or a new government would not be a surprise this summer.