The CEC secretary and deputy chair write to the President: Either head of state or member of parliament. The other side responds; the official report on 29 June is postponed Berisha’s mandate, a battle at the CEC Page 3 Godo: I refuse to preside over the Constitution. Brojka: The PS is making our mistakes. Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Storm clouds over Berisha’s diplomats

The press harshly attacked Prime Minister Bashkim Fino yesterday after his meeting with President Berisha, which once again saved the latter from immediate resignation. The day before yesterday, Berisha had been about to make his departure public, but contact with the prime minister at the last minute once again made him change his mind about leaving the highest office in the state. This may be considered excessive clemency on Bashkim Fino’s part toward a powerless opponent who has now reached his final stop. Although Fino himself has reflected on what he decided at the Presidency with the head of state by playing football, the act of the day before yesterday is an extremely worrying signal about the former opposition’s ability to respond to a man it has always found easy to fight. By linking the decree convening parliament to the announcement of the final election results, Fino has in effect fallen into the game of buying time and saving face that the head of state is trying to play. His actual bowing down before Sali Berisha is meanwhile the first challenge lost between the two governing camps, as the 29 June elections changed the balance of power within Albania’s political class. Why did Prime Minister Fino emerge from his meeting with Berisha as the loser? For several reasons. The first is the situation Albania is in. More than two weeks have passed since 29 June, when Albanians voted overwhelmingly for Berisha’s party to leave power. Since that day, the country still has neither a convened parliament nor a government formed by it. Meanwhile, wasting time is a luxury neither winners nor losers can afford. Just the day before yesterday, six murders took place in Tirana, all with firearms. If the defeated Berisha has time to wait, the victorious Bashkim Fino must hurry to exercise the burning mandate the electorate has placed in his hands. Delaying the current president’s resignation, even by 24 hours, is an irresponsible act that no circumstances can justify. If Fino was not at the Presidency on 9 March, when the opposition gave Berisha a hand and did not let him face defeat, he cannot say that he was not there the day before yesterday. Indeed, he was alone, in an awkward position for someone who must make concessions to a man who has never made any. Sali Berisha’s resignation from the post he has held entirely unjustly for at least four and a half months is the first step the new governing majority must bring about in order to pave the way for the country’s genuine normalization. But that certainly cannot be achieved by going to hold Berisha’s hand over the text of his resignation.

Spain. A bull coming out of the arena. Photo REUTERS

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