Politics still at loggerheads

TIRANA, Nov. 30 – Albanian politicians continue to be at loggerheads, though signs of calming down have been noticed in the last two weeks. After the end of the parliamentary commission on electoral reform, the opposition Socialist Party sent a package of some 40 amendments that would be the basis of the constitutional amendments and electoral law reform, needed ahead of the local elections expected sometime in January’s third week. President Alfred Moisiu is expected to set the election date on Saturday. It seems that the opposition’s request to postpone the election date due to weather obstacles did not come out successfully, as it required a constitutional amendment. Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democratic Party said on Thursday that it was up to the president to set the date according to the constitution, which meant until Jan. 20.
Meanwhile the two main groupingsشhe governing center-right Democratic Party-led coalition and the opposition Socialist-run oneءre negotiating among each other to set the names that will run for posts all around the country. It seems that the governing Democrats are more at ease and that their main concern could be determining how to satisfy the Christian Democrats of Nard Ndokaj, with whom they recently signed a deal. They will have a government post, a minister, after the election, according to Berisha. The premier declined to answer Thursday whether he would replace Sokol Olldashi in the post of the interior minister, as he is to run for mayor of Tirana. Olldashi has yet to receive the okay from top party leadership, though he has said he will resign from his post of Member of Parliament, but not from his ministerial post, as he is not obliged by the constitution to do so. As a comparison, he mentions Edi Rama’s case, who was a Minister of Culture when he ran for the mayorship.
The Socialists are having more difficulty trying to satisfy all four of their coalition allies. The Socialist Movement for Integration of former premier Ilir Meta is playing for high stakes, requesting a lot of posts not only at the commune level but also for the mayorship in many towns where they consider being victorious. The Social Democrats of Skender Gjinushi are also strongly headed to be the number two party in the coalition, as they have been during all the last years. The smaller allies, Paskal Milo and Neritan Ceka, are also playing for high stakes and requesting a lot of places. But the major opposition Socialist Party has clearly said that it would not allow any ally to run in those areas where it has winning parliamentarians, and has also set some basic criteria that a candidate should fulfill in order to be considered a good one. Negotiations will conclude by the end of the week, according to the top negotiator Bashkim Fino.