President meets political parties, electoral reform still locked

TIRANA, Nov. 7 – Albanian President Alfred Moisiu met Tuesday many representatives of the political parties in an effort to help them find a consensus on the voting date for the forthcoming local polls. Moisiu met with Bamir Tope of the governing Democratic Party and Pandeli Majko of the main opposition Socialist Party. He also met with other politicians from the smaller political parties of the governing coalition and the opposition. No different stand came out from the meetings. Topi said that the Democrats insisted elections should be held according to the Constitution between Dec. 20 and Jan. 20 time period. The Socialists insisted that the polls should be postponed for spring claiming voting could not be held in cold weather. That means that the president is left without any other option than setting the date during the harsh winter period, very likely Jan. 14. The president has said that unless any compromise is reached starting from Nov. 15 he will be obliged to set the election date.
Meanwhile the parliament postponed the mandate of the electoral reform commission until Nov. 14 hoping they will reach agreement on amendments needed for the elections. The two main parties are expected to reach agreement on adding the number of the Central Election Commission members from seven to nine members, and some other important issues which will need constitution amendments. But it seemed the two main parties have been deadlocked, mainly at two issues: election date and the voters’ list. Democrats say they will not change the election date as the opposition wants to. They also said there is no more time to print new birth certificates, which the opposition said were manipulated earlier this summer. These are to issues that have deadlocked the dialogue. The parliament voted with 76 votes in favor, 10 against and 24 abstained for the extension of the commission mandate. The opposition asked that the commission’s mandate be postponed until Nov. 27, which meant that very likely local polls had to be postponed. The democrats did not fell prey to the move and opposed that.
Meanwhile the main political parties _ Democrats and Socialists _ have practically started the electoral campaign. On one side, Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democrats has launched his trips all around the country inaugurating the launch of work in many projects funded form the government. He wants to tell the people, voters what the Democratic Party government has done to improve their life. That has been followed with other actions, like the increase of pensions for urban and rural pensioners and other government efforts. Opposition Socialists, on their side, have started trips to different cities to meet their voters. Their leader Edi Rama moves every day to different cities telling his supporters the failure of the government and what they can do. Something to note is the fact that while the Democrats are visiting more southern districts, where they do not have much support, the opposition Socialists have also visited many northern cities, where they do not have much support. The forthcoming local polls are a show of force between the two groupings and an indicator of where they stay more than a year after the general elections.
The governing majority is not that safe, or it doesn’t seem to be in the same position as when it started governing a year ago. Christian Democrats of Nard Ndoka have increased their pressure for a place in the government. They now have eight parliamentarians and together with the Human Rights Union Party, another coalition partner, they may turn into a serious danger to Berisha’s Democrats.