Parliamentary and electoral reform

“I have to underline that we must read Edi Rama’s declaration as the prelude of a new blocking season; as a return into the old politics of boycott and the conditioned relations with the Parliament”, declared the Democratic Parliamentary Group leader, Astrit Patozi.

The Socialist Parliament Group leader, Gramoz Ruci, replied by saying that the reform has stalled in 5 points that are not opposition requests:

“The voters’ lists, the identity cards, the ballot count, the Central Election Commission and the Electoral College reforms are required by the ODIHR report, not the SP”, Gramoz Ruci declared.

Besides the electoral reform, Berisha mentioned the disagreements of the group that was working for the Parliamentary Reform. According to the Prime Minister, the Socialists are violating the political agreement reached on November, by asking Constitutional amends:

“They want the Prime Minister to have equal speaking time with the opposition leader, and they demand secret votes for the Presidential decrees”, Berisha declared.

According to Berisha, the Presidential decrees for the members and leaders of the Constitutional institutions are not related with the person, but with the law. As such, they should be voted openly and nominally.

The Socialist Parliamentary Group leader, Gramoz Ruci, was not allowed to reply by the Parliament Speaker, Jozefina Topalli. She allowed Ruci to speak only for another discussion point:

“You say that we are asking Constitutional amends for denying to the Prime Minister the right to speech? Absolutely not! This request doesn’t come from the opposition. The opposition requests that the Prime Minister should not be the only voice in Parliament, and that there can be replies for what the Prime Minister has said, something that you have banned, as you did today”, Ruci declared.

Ruci added that the opposition required secret voting, because this is how the Presidential decrees have been voted in the last 20 years. The Prime Minister insisted that the Socialists’ request should be distributed to all MPs, in order to verify if they are in accordance with the political agreements of November. The Prime Minister added that the majority doesn’t accept conditions or impositions:

“If you want to realize the reforms, come and sit. If you want to impose them, there will be nothing like that. If you want to block the progress, you are free to do it”, Berisha replied.

After these debates, the Parliament passed two amends of the visa-free travel agreement with Montenegro and Macedonia, which allows Albanians to travel with identity cards.

Rama: “Berisha failing with the reform”

Edi Rama accused the Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, as the main responsible for the electoral and parliamentary reform obstacles.

“Without being surprised by the anti-opposition vulgarity, which has traditionally characterized the Prime Minister’s rhetoric, I emphasize the very serious concern of the Socialist Party for the delay of the electoral reform, beyond the deadline set in the establishment act of the respective Commission”, Rama declared.

According to Rama, Berisha is repeating what he has been offering to the opposition for the last two years, but, according to Rama, the truth is that the Party that is badly managed by him has not accepted any of the key points for a complete and just electoral reform.

“For two consequent years, the Prime Minister has repeated for dozens of times to the local and international opinion that he is ready to accept any proposition that comes from the opposition for the electoral reform. Today, when the deadline of this reform is about to expire in a few days, Berisha hasn’t accepted any of the key ODIHR recommendations, let alone the opposition’s proposition for improving the electoral system”, Rama declared.

“The Albanians and the international community, everyone, knows very well who Albania’s Prime Minister really is, and how much he loves the functionality of democracy and free elections. We have known this for a long time, but what we are asking today is the respect of the Parliamentary decision for the electoral reform, and the inclusion of any recommendation made by the OSCEODIHR, as the opening of a transparent debate at the Electoral Reform Commission and the improvement of the electoral system”, Rama declared.

Through this declaration Rama gives the causes that urged the Prime Minister to not agree with this reform:

“Berisha wants to delay the electoral reform, for making it impossible to implement the new anti-manipulation measures, due to the lack of time. We have known this before it could happen. Therefore, we have asked the international community to monitor this key reform for the democratic functionality of the country and its European integration. We have made no agreement with Berisha and his government when we sat at the electoral reform table, or at the Commission of Laws for passing the qualified majority laws, which we are almost rewriting from the beginning, in order to preserve the spirit of the European norms for the rule of law”, Rama adds.

Rama concludes his declaration by explaining why the intervention of the international community is necessary for not allowing the electoral reform to fail by the Prime Minister’s agenda, since they have solemnly committed in front of the Albanians to help for its fate, after its failure in two consequent elections, and by considering this reform as the main priority of Albania’s EU integration.

During a meeting with the young members of the Euro Socialist Youth Forum in Durres, Rama distributed the SP membership cards by not forgetting to exchange irony with the young members, especially one of them that is called Sali.

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