Opposition’s opponents say boycott is damaging

TIRANA, Sep 15 – Opponents of the opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama are insisting that the boycott of the parliament is only damaging the image of the party itself and achieving no results.
The Socialist boycotted the opening session of the new parliament Monday asking for an investigative commission and the legislation for that.
The leader of the Democrats also repeated that the election of June 28 were the best ever held in post-communist Albania, thus refuting the opposition’s claims of vote rigging.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s Democrats won 68 seats and they were joined by two smaller allies, the Republican Party and the Justice for Integration Party with one each.
The Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta, who won four seats, has also agreed to join them in a coalition to form the new government.
The opposition Socialists and their ally the Human Rights Union Party won 66 seats in the 140-seat parliament.
Besides Arben Malaj and Ben Blushi, party militants also heard of the criticism of the boycott from their former secretary general and also the country’s ex-president, Rexhep Meidani.
Meanwhile the party has sent a request to the prosecutor’s office in capital Tirana asking for a penal case against the government referring to the distribution of the new identity cards. That is the first legal action they have undertaken since declaring the boycott and also launched what they called a national action for election transparency.