Towards Another Stalemate?

TIRANA, July 8 – A year since June 28, 2009 parliamentary elections Albanians may really consider it a lost year, or a useless one for the common population, despite the good steps towards its visa liberalization and also the candidate status request with the filled questionnaire to the European Union.
But where is Albania going? Towards another long political squabbling that will prolong this fruitless stalemate?
The parliament is practically blocked, unable to pass any major reforms or draft laws that require three-fifth, or 84 votes out of its 140. Now even normal draft laws will not have the presence of the opposition votes, that has decided to boycott all forms of voting there.
The opposition Socialists of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama claim vote count manipulation from the governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and want a partial recount.
That is considered illegal and unconstitutional from the Democrats, who narrowly won 75 out of 140 parliament’s seats together with their allies.
European Parliament passed a resolution Wednesday that urges “the urgent need to establish a cross-party consensus on economic, political and social reforms in order to improve the well-being of Albanian citizens and allow the country to make progress towards EU membership.”
Stefa Fuele, EC’s Enlargement Commissioner, fully shared the European Parliament’s view on the political situation in Albania but also added that the on-going political stalemate in Albania was hindering important reform steps, which were also necessary for the country’s progress on the EU integration path.
Last year’s general elections were probably the most closely scrutinized polls in the country’s post-communist history, which have often been marred by fraud and violence.
After becoming a NATO member and filing for EU candidate status in April 2009, the ballot was seen as a crucial test of the country’s democratic credentials.
The new parliament started its works in September but boycotted from the Socialists, who also launched a series of street protests.
After intense mediation from the Council of Europe the opposition returned to parliament in late February, but only to stay there temporarily not accepting the way the Democrats created an investigative parliamentary commission that did not include a partial recount.
Following that they embarked on a three-week hunger strike with a group of lawmakers joining a few hundred supporters, held just in front of the premier’s office.
That also ended following mediation from the European Parliament assisted from the European Commission.
An informal dinner in Strasbourg where the two leaders were invited by the EP’s political groupings’ heads was followed by some weeks of behind-the-scene efforts to reach a compromise.
There were rumors, never confirmed officially by any of the sides or the mediators, that the compromise offer was to create a commission that would first check the vote documentation and then, if it asked, the Venice Commission would be in charge of deciding whether to open or not a number of ballot boxes as the opposition asks for.
European lawmakers urged the implementation of the OSCE/ODIHR poll recommendations to be in time for next year’s local elections.
The poll was considered a litmus test of Albania’s readiness to progress towards eventual membership in the bloc.
True, the European Commission gave its positive approval and proposal on Albania’s visa liberalization, after adding three more benchmarks. It is very likely the decision will be positive by November. That was also mentioned and urged Wednesday by the European parliamentarians.
But that does not mean Albania will also get the candidate status it has asked for. EU membership is also based on the Copenhagen criteria, which pay special attention to a normal functioning of the democracy, in other words, of the political life in a country.
One year later Berisha and Rama and their political parties remain locked in a stalemate over the election results, which is all but too familiar to many Albanians. They may only listen to the harsh debates among the lawmakers at the parliament, often even calling names on each other, but no progress. All laws that are passed have only the vote of the majority Democrats.
Although the electoral process was deemed an improvement on previous polls, it still did not meet internationally recognized election standards.
The political fight for the vote transparency, as the opposition says, is also directly linked to the local elections to be held next year. Its fight has already started, often indicating that it will be focused in capital Tirana where Rama is the mayor and the challenger to the Democrats.
There have been rumors that the opposition may tend to boycott the local polls.
On the other side, the recent political conflict in Albania also showed the weakness of the European politics to mediate and resolve such a minor conflict in a small country.
It could be easy for Europe to say that is up to you, to the Albanian politicians to resolve and also set any ultimatum like postponing the visa liberalization or the candidate status. But what would be its worthiness? Would it really be a lecture to this political class, that has been squabbling ever since it was created with the fall of communism in 1990?
Not much, really. It would more negatively affect the common, poor Albanians, who vote them. Is that right?