Implementation of the transition of power at Tirana City Hall serves as latest example of lack of political and democratic maturity in Albania.
TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, 15 Jul 2011–The courts have opened the way for Democratic Party’s Lulzim Basha to lead Albania’s largest municipality as its new mayor. It marks an end to the two-month legal saga stemming from the razor-thin municipal election results. But even though the transition of power is now a legal certainty, its implementation – like many others before it – will likely take a big toll on the institution’s ability to its job.
The local elections resulted in period of uncertainty with negative effects for municipalities across the country. In coastal municipalities, for example, illegal construction took place, profiting from the fact that local authorities were distracted by the elections and the transition process. In other cases, some firms contracted by municipalities to perform basic services like trash collection and water purification complained they had not been paid on time during the transition process.
But in Tirana, where the transition period was longer than anywhere else, the process clearly undermined the administration of the capital, which needs its elected mayor and council to go to work and keep up with ongoing projects.
Though the mayor issue has now been dealt with, a legal process is still ongoing for the composition of the Tirana City Council, as the Central Elections Commission is yet to distribute the mandates of the elected council members.Courts might have to decide on these too, further lengthening the transition period.
Unfortunately these developments are largely political in nature and serve as a typical example of why the transition of power has been so difficult in Albania in the last two decades and why a change in how these are handled is direly needed.
Tirana’s case was very important for a local election because its incumbent mayor running for reelection was the head of the national opposition’s largest party. Socialist officials have said in the past couple of days they will accept the transition to a new mayor, but they are making it clear they are not happy about it. The current mayor and Socialist Party leader, Edi Rama, maintains the elections were rigged and the courts did not rule fairly. But he has no more avenues of appeal, so he is clearing his office.
If Tirana residents were expecting a ceremony of transition at city hall where the former mayor hands the incoming one the keys, they will likely be disappointed. This, like most transitions of its kind in Albania, will be a bitter and rude one.
There is almost no chance that Mr. Rama will conduct a smooth transition of power since he has made it clear he does not recognize the election results – a scourge of Albanian politics.
That there will be no proper transition is very unfortunate because Mr. Rama has been running Tirana for more than a decade. He has been a very active mayor with a major personal investment in the city. And his projects were successful for a long time. But one must keep in mind that these projects and his work belong to the people of Tirana and are not personal property of anyone.
However, Albanian politicians often see their offices as personal property, which leads to a bad transition of power, reflecting a low level of democracy and modernity in the country.
It’s not that post-communist Albania hasn’t been able to rise to a proper image when transitioning an important institution. There have been a few occasions going against the negative trend, primarily related to the head of state. The last three presidents of the republic – Rexhep Mejdani, Alfred Moisiu and Bamir Topi – have all done their duties properly, with proper and respectable transitions. It’s a lesson other Albanian politicians need to heed.
Looking outside the country’s borders the next symbolic step is accepting losses and congratulating winners. In twenty years of democracy in post-communist Albania, we are yet to see a national leader who loses an election call up the winner to congratulate and accepts full responsibility for an election loss without claiming some sort of irregularity. Until that happens, important transitions of power will continue to be just that: unhappy and rude.
