Tirana city council in harsh political debate

TIRANA, Feb 3 – The Tirana City Council was involved in a harsh political debate Tuesday evening when the governing Democratic Party members were joined by those of the opposition Socialist Movement for Integration to oppose the budget offered by Mayor Edi Rama, also leader of the main opposition Socialist Party.
The voting result was doubtful as Rama counted 29 votes in favor, including some from small political parties of the center-right coalition, but that result was not approved by the council’s speaker of the SMI who said it should be held again.
What the debate and the following voting clearly showed was a visible partition between the Socialists and those of former Prime Minister Ilir Meta’s SMI, who have been in a harsh dispute since April of last year after the approval of the constitutional amendments on the new voting system.
The SMI claimed transparency from city hall while Rama said the SMI was joining forces with the Democrats in order to impose their will in the opposition coalition.
Such inter-fighting among the opposition allies may likely favor the Democrats in the general elections on June 28.