Nano begins lobbying for presidential nomination

TIRANA, April 25 – Former Prime Minister and leader of the main opposition Socialist party Fatos Nano has started his personal meetings with the various relevant factors in Albanian politics who could give their votes in the parliament to elect him in the post of the country’s president later this summer.
First Nano came out at a television show to repeat his candidacy for the post and then immediately started to meet with, first, the leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration Ilir Meta and with Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the Democratic Party.
The president is elected in the parliament and the winner should get three-fifth or 84 votes in the first three rounds and only an absolute majority of 71 votes in the two last rounds. The parliament is made up of 140 lawmakers.
Nano has said that he would like to get votes from the governing Democrats and also his leftist Socialists. That doesn’t seem to be that easy.
Berisha has made it clear that he welcomes Nano’s candidacy but has insisted too that the new president will come out from among the ranks of the Democrats’ personalities.
Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli is the most likely (unofficial) candidate known until now.
The opposition Socialists have said through their leader Edi Rama that Nano is not going to be their candidate. Nano almost abandoned his former party since he resigned from the post of the premier and the party leader in 2005. Very often he has shown that he tries to be above the political parties.
Nano has also met with the top ambassadors of the international community in the country.
The international community has made it clear they would prefer that Albania elects a consensual president.
The Democrats want their president. But the opposition fears that means that Berisha would like to nominate the new prosecutor general and head of the intelligence police Shik, thus giving an end to any independent institution in the country, they say.
The Democrats are not sure they have the proper numbers following the recent moves by a small group among their lawmakers trying to create a new political party, expected to be led by President Bamir Topi when he completes his mandate.
That number cannot be collected without Meta’s LSI or those few lawmakers of the republicans, the Cams and the other independent ones.
The opposition Socialists know they do not have the power to enforce a consensual candidate, that is one elected with their approval too.
Berisha, on his side, has said that he will negotiate with all the factors, including the opposition for the new candidate. But he has insisted it will come out of their ranks. He has also said and repeated he is not going to run for that post.
Topi’s mandate is over in July, thus making the election for the post possible in June. That means that by the end of May all the possible candidates should be made public.
Until then the behind-the-scene fight will continue unabated.