PACE urges Albania’s politics to reconcile, resolve political stalemate

STRASBOURG, France, Jan. 31 – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) urged the Albanian government and the opposition to end their political stalemate and begin necessary reforms.
PACE passed a resolution last week advising the government to form a parliamentary commission to investigate the June 2009 general election, as the opposition has demanded, and urged the opposition to end its boycott of parliament. It suggested that President Bamir Topi serve as mediator.
The Council of Europe, CoE, adopted a resolution calling for an end to the Albanian Socialist Party-led boycott of parliament and a thorough investigation of the June 28 parliamentary elections in the country.
The Socialists have boycotted parliament since the new session began in September, claiming that the government’s alleged fraud was to blame for their electoral loss. They have conditioned their return to parliament on a partial recount of electoral ballots, or they will ask for the government’s resignation.
The opposition and the governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha agree on the idea of an investigation of the June 28, 2009 parliamentary election but they differ on a major issue, which stymies a decision on a probe.
The Socialists of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama have conditioned the investigation on the ballot box recount while the governing Democrats say they agree on the investigation but not on the recount as that means violating the verdicts of the Electoral College, the supreme legal body on the elections.
Following the PACE resolution both sides began their political talk, or more correctly, their dance around compromise.
Each of them said they supported the resolution which told the opposing side what to do. They each began the interpretation of the resolution to their benefit.
Hunkered in their positions, both the opposition and the majority have struggled to find a solution to the crisis that is acceptable to both sides.
The resolution in the CoE received 84 votes in favor from 94 deputies present; it was approved by both left and right-wing representatives of the council.
The CoE is expected to send a delegation to Tirana in early February seeking to jumpstart dialogue between the two parties.
The Albanian delegation, which was represented only by deputies from the ruling party, tried to add ten amendments to the resolution, but only three were approved.
“We want to thank our friends and colleagues in the CoE for turning down the vulgar amendments of the Democratic Party,” said Rama in a press conference. “We are ready to negotiate but we won’t give up the protests and the boycott until a solution is found,” he added.
Berisha called on the opposition to return to parliament, while accepting President Topi as a possible mediator, although half-heartedly, and repeated his opposition to a possible ballot recount.
“I call on the opposition to return to parliament,” Berisha said, “I promise that every allegation will be investigated apart from the judicial decision that cannot be changed by political means.”
The Socialists have widely contested the court’s decision as illegal.
“If President Topi thinks he can convince Rama to accept court decisions, one of the elementary rules of the state, I will meet him with no objections,” Berisha underlined.
PACE asked its Presidential Committee, accompanied by the Monitoring Committee’s co-reporters for Albania, Jaakko Laakso (Finland, UEL) and David Wilshire (United Kingdom, EDG), to visit Albania as soon as possible so as to help restore political dialogue there, the Council of Europe announced.
The Assembly deplores “the political crisis which has seriously damaged Albanian politics following the parliamentary elections of June 2009, with the Socialist Party-led opposition boycotting the parliament and contesting the political legitimacy of the Democratic Party-led government.”
The Assembly called on the Albanian government to set up, without further delay, a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the elections.
The Assembly regrets that the absence of parliamentary dialogue is blocking the reform process, since the governing majority does not have the three-fifths majority required to pass major constitutional reforms; it urges the opposition to return to parliament and fully participate in its work.
Albania has received the European Union questionnaire which is to be then considered by Brussels if the country fulfills the requirement for candidate status.
The EU is also expected to consider the country’s visa-free regime mid-year.
Both these goals for the tiny Balkan country may be well damaged by the domestic political crisis.