The Presidential Puzzle

By Jerina Zaloshnja
TIRANA, May 4 – Though there is less than a month till the election for the country’s new president, the ruling government coalition and the opposition are far from a consensus for a presidential candidate.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha said Tuesday that he would be ready to begin negotiations with the opposition to find the best possible consensual candidate.
The ruling Democratic party has declared it is prepared to offer its parliamentary group head and deputy leader of the party, Bamir Topi, as the best candidate for the post.
The opposition has declared Topi as unacceptable and has appealed for a consensus. Although there has been no formal candidate presented by the opposition, some of them support the reelection of the current president, Alfred Moisiu. A smaller group supports their former leader, Fatos Nano.
Berisha has said, however, that new elections were not rules out unless there was a compromise. According to the constitution, a new president, who is elected by the parliament, would need at least 84 votes out of 140 seats. If the parliament cannot elect the president in five rounds of voting, then the country goes to new general elections.
The opposition bases its request for a consensual president on the 2002 experience when Moisiu was elected with agreement from the two main political parties, then opposition Democrats and the Socialist party.
The then-government, led by the Socialists and their allies, could secure the 84 votes. But the international community suggested the new president be a consensual one taking into consideration the results of the 2001 parliamentary elections. The world recognized the Socialists’ victory, but still the electoral process was compromised because of the claims from the opposition.
Now the governing coalition has 80 votes in the parliament, something which obliges them to reach a consensus for the president.
The government says, however, it is entitled to a new president due to the results they have achieved thus far.
The opposition has declared no formal candidate but insists on an agreement for the new president.
A number of candidates have come to the front.
Former Socialist leader and Prime Minister Fatos Nano does not enjoy the full support of his opposition group. A local analyst said that if Nano became the next president, then all the powers in the country would be secured from the Siamese twin brothers. That’s not the case of Poland, analysts say, where people are also not pleased with twins running the country.
Berisha and Nano have dominated post-communist Albanian politics, taking the country into a very contentious ongoing situation. Servet Pellumbi, former Socialist parliament speaker and a senior leader, considered as unacceptable would result in electing Nano to the post. Nano is not and cannot be the opposition’s candidate, he said. Regarding himself as the next president, Pellumbi did not oppose the idea, but said the decision was up to the party’s forums.
Socialist Movement for Integration head Ilir Meta also said that the next president should come out of the opposition, or the other solution would be new polls.
Another presidential candidate is Sabri Godo, president of the Republican Party, and part of the governing coalition. Godo seems to enjoy support in academic and intellectual circles. On Topi, Godo says he is one of the best alternatives though he does not hide his own ambition for the post. Godo excludes, however, Nano’s candidacy, or his return to active politics in the country.
It is very likely that the opposition Socialists demand a second term for Moisiu, whom they strongly support due to his stands that often have supported them.
But for the government and its coalition members, Moisiu’s second term is considered unimaginable. During the last two years, when the Democrats have been in power, ties between the government and the president, or better say, between Berisha and Moisiu have been frozen, at the very best.
Moreover the government has often accused Moisiu on many issues.
Republicans, who have presented Godo as their candidate, have also asked for a roundtable of the governing coalition to decide on the best possible candidate they could introduce.
That idea was supported also by the Christian Democrats, also a government coalition member, who have declared they would support Moisiu for a second term.
Berisha also said he would not oppose neogitaitons with his opponent Rama on the issue. But words are far away from deeds. That has been often said before, but they have never met and do not intend to meet in the near future.
Albert Rakipi of the Albanian Institute of International Studies says the very grave allegations the government has made against Moisiu serve no one unless verified in a court of law. On the other side, says Rakipi, it is not a violation of the law if the governing coalition does not want to support Moisiu for a second term.
Head of the Delegation of the European Commission, Helmuth Lohan, said Wednesday that Brussels would like to see political stability in Albania and no new elections. He also said Brussels would not like to serve as a mediator in Albanian politics, meaning they should try to reach a consensus on the next president by themselves.
The failure of electing the new president in the next eight weeks could take the country to general elections and that is considered the worst alternative that could happen for the country, since there electoral reform remains uncompleted.