TIRANA, Jan. 19, 2024 – Albania’s parliament has started the new year in deadlock with now familiar scenes of opposition MPs disrupting proceedings in protest of what they say are “anti-democratic maneuvers” by Prime Minister Edi Rama to exclude the largest opposition group from investigative committees and a key electoral reform.
The opposition says the ruling majority has changed a law on investigative commissions to prevent the opposition from holding the ruling majority accountable, a right it says is enshrined in the country’s constitution.
Last week, the first session of the year saw Democratic Party MPs disrupt the session to make normal proceedings impossible, including a speech by President Bajram Begaj, whose last-minute scheduled speech to parliament they saw as a government provocation.
-Parliament ‘not-functioning’-
Carrying signs with anti-government slogans, the opposition MPs refused to sit and yelled at the speaker to stop the session, accusing the president of serving the ruling majority with his presence.
“The president came as a humble servant of Edi Rama to bless the law changes that violate the opposition, law changes that deprive the opposition of any constitutional right. He came as a propaganda minister,” said MP Flamur Noka, one of the leading figures in the DP group led by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who is currently under house arrest in a corruption investigation from more than a decade ago, which he and his supporters say is politically motivated to hurt the opposition.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the leader of the DP parliamentary group, Gazmend Bardhi, who has a considerable number of MPs behind him and who has joined forces with the Berisha group.
“It was a low-level provocation by the president against the parliamentary opposition. I call on him to abandon his behavior as a follower of the ruling party, and to respect the institution he leads. The president today behaved like a blind man who did not see that parliament is not functioning. And this is very worrying,” Bardhi said, adding the opposition was not informed about the president’s planned speech ahead of time.
The tense situation made it impossible for President Begaj to deliver his speech, and he chose to do it later from his office. He pointed out that the previous parliamentary session unfortunately spent more time on non-parliamentary agendas than major issues for the country. “This new parliamentary session is a new opportunity for you deputies to redirect the dialogue for the common good, national interest, and the consolidation of Albania’s positions in the region,” Begaj said in his speech.
-SP benefits as opposition weakened by division-
As has now become the norm, the year’s first session ended within a few minutes, with Socialists quickly voting on all government decisions — including the recent changes to the cabinet — amid noise and chaos.
Protests by the largest opposition grouping in parliament have been ongoing for the past few months, primarily due to the investigative commissions issue, and now increasingly due to the composition of the electoral reform commission.
The largest group within the opposition says its is being excluded in the reform by the ruling SP through the use of the a far smaller group of DP MPs led by Lulzim Basha, to whom a court has officially granted DP leadership to, despite being a DP faction with only minority support and only a small segment of the DP parliamentary group.
The main opposition Democratic Party has endured internal strife for years, particularly following its defeat in the April 25, 2021 general elections – which it lost for an unprecedented third consecutive time. The defeat set the stage for Prime Minister Rama’s Socialist Party to assert dominance in Albanian politics.
DP is now left weakened and divided with three factions, two of which are participating in the parliamentary protests.
-Ruling party tries to sidestep main opposition on electoral reform-
Officially, Damian Gjiknuri, a Socialist, leads the special electoral reform commission alongside Enkelejd Alibeaj, the deputy chairman representing Basha’s group.
Several months ago, an attempt by a group of deputies supporting parliamentary group leader Gazmend Bardhi and those backing former Prime Minister Sali Berisha to replace Alibeaj with deputy Oerd Bylykbashi failed after the majority rejected the proposal.
The parliamentary decision to establish the Electoral Reform Commission specifies that co-chairs are appointed by the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party, giving the Socialists the opportunity to use the court ruling to pick a more “friendly” opposition representative, even though he represents a group with little to no support among DP voters in recent elections — a big sore point with the rest of the opposition, which clearly has more popular and parliamentary support.
-PM uninterested in compromise-
Prime Minister Edi Rama, addressing the ongoing deadlock said the ruling Socialist Party would act unilaterally if needed and did not have to abide by the “bipartisan tradition” on electoral reform.
“The commission is neither an international norm nor a European norm. Perhaps it is time for the tradition of bipartisan commissions to end, noting that there are no longer just two sides, but many, and we are not obligated to do it in this form,” Rama said. “The tradition has worked as long as it has worked, but today there is no sign of that tradition. So, we have seen that this is not the end of the world. Of course, we would like it to be, but if it is not, we will find other ways, but we will not leave the country without reform, and we will not leave Albania without elections; there is no discussion.”
-Basha chided for hinting at int’l support-
A day earlier, Basha had said his MPs would resume working with the government in the special commission.
“In collaboration with the international factor, whose representatives I want to thank, we have managed to take a modest first step regarding the main priority of removing political irresponsibility from the political scene through electoral reform. And at least for now, in collaboration with Albania’s strategic allies, the Democratic Party, as the leader of this process in the essential sense of the word, has persuaded the other party to start work on the Bipartisan Electoral Reform Commission,” Basha said in a statement.
His statement was interpreted as the international factor’s commitment to facilitating joint discussions between the Socialist Party and Basha’s minority grouping, in essence bypassing the part of the opposition that actually has the voters behind it.
This led to a coordinated series of statements by international actors in Albania — EU, US and UK — to clarify that they were not taking sides on this issue and that they had not acted as negotiators for the creation of a commission that excludes the majority of the opposition.
The head of the EU Delegation, Silvio Gonzato, said, “For us, it is extremely important that Albania follows the OSCE-ODIHR mission’s recommendations. And you must carry out this reform through constructive and inclusive political dialogue. I think electoral reform is an issue that concerns everyone, not just the majority or just the opposition.”
Reactions from diplomatic representatives received applause from DP MPs who see the restart of the Electoral Reform Commission’s work as a “back room deal” between Rama and Basha at the expense of the opposition.
“The Electoral Reform Commission is bipartisan and consensual only if it reflects the real political force relations in the majority and opposition, only if the Democratic Party, the real representative of the vast majority of opposition voters, co-chairs the commission and vetoes to ensure real political consensus majority-opposition,” said DP MP Oerd Bylykbashi. “As long as the majority maintains this status quo, this commission is neither inclusive nor consensual and constitutes an unacceptable farce for the Democratic Party. Any product of it cannot be consensual and does not guarantee elections with standards.”
