TIRANA, Aug. 17 – All opposition Democratic Party-proposed caretaker ministers have submitted their resignation after three months in duty, paving the way for a new Socialist Party-led government next September.
Deputy Prime Minister Ledina Mandija and six other ministers including the interior, finance, justice and health ministers have all resigned following the compilation of a report on alleged abuses in the June 25 elections which the Socialist Party won on its own.
The report was compiled by Democratic Party-led task force set up as part of the May 18 deal between Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader Lulzim Basha to ban the use of the public administration and public resources in the electoral campaign.
The May 18 deal overcame a three-month political deadlock as the opposition was threatening to boycott elections on allegations of criminal gangs and cannabis money putting elections at risk unless a caretaker government was formed.
The report, parts of which have been unveiled by local media, makes serious allegations that criminal gangs were involved in several of the country’s regions and that vote buying remained a widespread phenomenon.
It also alleges the state police failed to prevent electoral fraud and that public assets and public administration employees were massively used.
The opposition center-right Democratic Party won 43 MPs in the June 25 elections, less than 30 percent of the vote, the worst electoral performance in its 27-year history.
The task force headed by deputy Prime Minister Mandija has also made some recommendations regarding the holding of smooth general election including a caretaker government taking over three to six months ahead of the elections and legal changes banning changes in the public administration six months ahead of the elections.
The ruling Socialist Party which won a majority of 74 votes in the June 25 allowing it comfortably rule on its own in the next four years, has described the report compiled by only the Democratic Party-proposed caretaker ministers as illegal because of not having received the task force approval and not based on evidence.
Meanwhile, the four ministers of the Socialist Movement for Integration, the Socialists’ junior partner in the past four years, have not submitted their resignation, hinting they will continue to serve until a new government is formed next September.
The SMI, which lost its kingmaker position for the first time in the past eight years, will now be in opposition but will have 19 MPs, 3 more than in the 2013 elections.
Lulzim Basha, who was reconfirmed as Democratic Party leader last July following internal party elections told officials of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission that the general elections of June 25 where marred by vote-buying and pressure on voters with state money and crime proceeds and thus were “a triumph of lawlessness.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, who won a second consecutive mandate, says the vote was a clear support to his Socialist Party to continue reforms strengthening rule of law.
However, the Socialist Party will still need to rely on the opposition to push reforms needing a qualified majority of 84 votes, three-fifths of the 140-seat Parliament.
Sources close to the prime minister have indicated that as few as ten ministries could be included in the new Socialist Party government, meaning that the number of ministries could be cut in half.
