Opposition threatens ‘human shield’ to prevent seizure of Moisiu’s offices

TIRANA, May 22 – Albania’s political opposition party members today pledged in parliament that they would use their bodies as a human shield to prevent the governing majority from occupying the offices of President Alfred Moisiu after his mandate expires July 24.
The parliament is expected to begin voting for the new president June 24, but ongoing political rancor is increasing the possibility that no new President would be elected in the time allowed by law.
In that case the governing majority of Prime Minister Sali Berisha has said Moisiu’s mandate ends July 24 and the parliament Speaker, Jozefina Topalli, is to replace him.
This constitutional interpretation has not been accepted by the opposition, saying the majority should not dare do that because the opposition members would turn into a human shield to prevent Moisiu’s offices from being taken over.
Additionally, the opposition reiterated that unless the parliament is able to elect a president, the law states the parliament must be dissolved and new elections held. In that case, according to the opposition, Topalli is relieved of her post, and would no longer be in line to succeed President Moisiu.
The president’s election has turned into a major controversy, threatening to paralyze the day-to-day activities of Albania.
Though the parliament is dominated by political debate on many issues, the election of the next president is constantly brought into debates.
The opposition repeated they will not accept Democratic party deputy leader and parliamentary group head Bamir Topi as the next president and that he should withdraw his candidacy.
As expected, the ruling majority continues to push for Topi to become the next president. Topi himself on Monday called on his party’s allies to declare their support of his candidacy.
Republicans have nominated their own candidate, Sabri Godo, while Christian Democrats say they support Moisiu. They are the two main allies of Berisha’s Democrats.
The opposition claims the next president should come from their ranks because Moisiu was elected by consensus and belonged to the then-opposition Democrats in 2002.
The president is elected by the 140-seat parliament and he needs at least three-fifth of the votes, or 84 votes, to win the post. Democrats and their allies do not have that many votes.
But the opposition is also divided. Their former leader and prime minister, Fatos Nano, has declared he wants to be the next president and he enjoys about a dozen supporters among the lawmakers.
That means it would be no surprise if Democrats and Nano supporters elected the latter to the post. However, Nano does not have the support of his Socialist party and other allies.
Socialists, though, have hinted they would accept Moisiu for a second term. Moisiu himself acknowledged his willingness to again serve as president in an interview last week.
On Monday, Moisiu appealed to all political parties to forget about the president’s election at this moment and to think of the country’s further advancement toward reaching NATO membership next year. He also reminded lawmakers that U.S. President George W. Bush’s visit and Kosova’s status were more important at this moment.