TIRANA, March 5 – Albania’s opposition protesters surrounded the parliament again on Tuesday to rally against the ruling majority.
The opposition is demanding the departure of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the establishment of a caretaker government to facilitate early elections.
The parliament building was surrounded by numerous police forces while an ordinary session was taking place inside the hall.
At the beginning of the session, Rama spoke again about the deadlock created in the country due to the opposition’s decision to resign its mandates and call repeated protests, responding the majority would not meet the opposition’s demands.
“This parliament is the place where the majority of Albanians brought us and have gave us the task of governing until 2021. Our mandate is not a gambling letter. The opposition made its choice. What must be said is that their movement can do nothing, zero, to the ruling SP majority and the government,” Rama said.
Rama added the majority is always ready to dialogue with the opposition, but not to negotiate “the system’s most basic rules.”
Opposition MP candidates spoke during Tuesday’s protest, saying they had willingly decided to join opposition lawmakers who resigned their mandates and didn’t enter the parliament building.
However, there was a part of opposition MPs who were sworn in during today’s parliament session to replace a part of the opposition.
Edmond Rrushi and Ylli Shehu, whose names were on the list of Tirana candidates in the 2017 elections, as well as Aurora Mara of the Diber list and Enver Rroshi of the Elbasan list, were sworn in on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, another name, this time from the Democratic Party, Lefter Maliqi from the Berat list, also submitted the self-declaration form to the CEC on Monday.
They will be joining Myslym Murri of the DP and Lefter Koka of the SMI in refusing to resign their mandate.
According to the opposition, those representatives who are refusing to give up mandates are part of the majority’s efforts to create an artificial opposition.
“The time for Albania to be like the rest of Europe is coming. The time when one man alone, with the help of crime, humiliated an entire population, after it stole its money and its votes, has come to an end. The protests squares roar with roars ‘Rama go away, Rama you are over, your regime is over. The parliament hall is for weeks now the carantine of crime and corruption,” Basha has declared.
Meanwhile, the international community in Albania has only spoken against the opposition’s protests and mandates’ resignation, while not addressing the mounting allegations against Rama’s government.
First, news that the biggest part of the government tender to build part of the Great Ring road – a project already contradicted by the area’s citizens for violating their property rights – was awarded to a US offshore and its Albanian branch that had no legal or valid basis and was possibly supported by the Albanian government broke out.
Secondly, a VOA and BIRN piece revealed that important SP lawmakers and other officials are being currently under prosecutorial investigation for possibly participating in ballot buying with the help of the heads of criminal organizations in the country.
In addition to these scandals, during December, the Socialist government faced massive university student protests demanding an improved education system in the country by abolishing the SP’s educational reform, which they deemed unconstitutional.
The protests led Rama to completely reshuffle his government cabinet and replace his main ministers with fresh names – a choice widely criticized by independent experts, particularly as a number of Rama’s appointments either didn’t belong in the political sphere, or consisted of inexperienced, Kosovo nationals.
