TIRANA, July 14 – Parliament’s third vote Saturday again failed to elect a new president as the main contender, Bamir Topi of the governing Democrats, again failed to get the required three-fifths, or 84 votes.
During the Saturday vote, Topi received fewer votes than in the other two rounds. On Saturday, Topi garnered 50 votes as many of his previous supporters voted for newcomer Neritan Ceka of the opposition coalition Democratic Alliance party, who received 32 votes.
Former Prime Minister and opposition Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano, who is supported only by a small part of the opposition grouping, only received three votes. His losing means he can no longer run for the presidency in the next two rounds of voting.
The opposition boycott again hampered efforts to elect a new president, leaving only two more attempts before the possibility of general elections.
Bamir Topi, deputy leader of the governing Democratic Party-led coalition of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, led the pack with 50 votes. He did better in the two previous rounds, winning 75 and 74 votes.
Both Topi and Ceka advance to the fourth round because they are the two nominees who won the largest votes in the first three rounds.
The Socialist Party-led coalition, now run by Tirana Mayor Edi Rama, boycotted the vote in protest after Berisha refused to vote for a military official proposed by the opposition, when the opposition did not agree on some constitutional amendments Berisha had demanded.
The Socialists have demanded to be allowed to present their own choice for the post, arguing that when it was in government in 2002, it allowed the Democrats, then in opposition, to nominate existing President Alfred Moisiu as a consensual candidate.
The Socialists insist they are preparing to go to early general elections.
Parliament may hold two further votes before July 24, when Moisiu’s term expires.
If the parliament fails to elect a president in five rounds, it is dissolved and the country goes to early general elections within 60 days, according to the constitution.
