Politics Looking Forward To Broader Coalitions

TIRANA, Aug 25 – The country is listening to many political debates, this time not only about the two broader coalitions of the governing right and the opposition left opposing each other, but also how they are supposed to present themselves in next year’s general elections.
The governing Democrats seem to be in a less turbulent situation than are their rivals, the Socialists.
The Democrats normally can count on support from the democrats and a few smaller rightist or center-rightist political groups.
However, they are now only debating with one of them, the Christian Democrats of Nard Ndoka, the former health minister who lost his job last month.
Astrit Patozi, the Democrats’ head of their parliamentary group, made it clear that they are open to discussions with any possible coalition member.
However, that’s not the situation on the opposition’s side.
Despite recent moves, it seems that the conflict between the main opposition Socialists and the Socialist Movement for Integration of former premier Ilir Meta has not ended. After a freezing of their ties, senior party officials from both groups met last week to discuss future coalition efforts.
It seemed that the electoral code, still in the parliament to be debated, was the main topic of discussion.
Meta’s party is seeking an agreement that would give them equal rights. There was no objection from the Socialists but the next day Meta announced this was the last chance for cooperation.
He also said he would create a coalition with two smaller parties and become part of a separate coalition next year.
The next day, the Socialists met with the Social Democrats and both sides seemed very pleased with their talks and said that creating a coalition was very possible next year.
Meta’s party is expected to ask for a change in the electoral code regarding the composition of coalitions, which gives them more possibilities of holding a seat in parliament. This is a formula that Berisha’s party used in the last elections, which pleased many of their coalition members.
But the conflict among leftist parties also threatens them ahead of the general polls.
It seems, however, that following the latest conflicts and scandals among the ruling coalition, such unity among leftist parties could very likely give them a victory next year. The new regional proportional election system, as well as the new makeup of the coalition, both seek to hold normal polls in the country and also eliminate the political bazaar always apparent during the post-communist period.