Albania in elections
Socialists react to the boycott. Three absences lead to voting
The Prime Minister: Sali Berisha, leader of paid hysteria
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Why voting
BY Enver Dyrli
While the parties are still boycotting the Parliament’s holiday recess, the socialists seem to have decided to answer with another round of objections. Their defense of the KPD took place yesterday in the belief that they are determined and cannot rehabilitate the rule of local elections. In fact, the socialists have become part of a discourse with an aspiration for elections, which in their view will put an end to this electoral farce. According to them, the level of boycotts and the debates in Parliament opened up the session and he was accused of being a propagandist.
It is not known how the parliamentary game will continue, but the local elections, at least today, seem to be moving toward the final point. In a meeting with the KPD in the afternoon, representatives of the socialists and left-wing allies discussed the progress of the elections, but focused mainly on electoral reform. Something else was expected from the meeting, which was preceding the session of the Assembly, the first in this hot period. Thus the expectation seemed quite unsettling. Albania seems marginalized, but is on the road to entering similar tunnels before the autumn. Berisha arrives with his expression and is very frightened.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nano took the parliamentary rostrum in a major shift, not merely because he says that the elections are taking place. Only the opposition, the deputies and most of the ministers were present in the chamber, but for a long time none of the opposition leaders could be seen. The left-wing representatives do not feel troubled by this. “I,” he said, “am convinced that these elections will be completed and the boycott does not delay the conditions of the election,” the Prime Minister said, adding that in this case the PD did nothing other than propaganda.
In his speech, Nano called Berisha “the leader of paid hysteria” and said that he is trying to create a new climate of tension. “He is doing this not because he is against free elections, but because he knows that the elections will take place,” Nano said. The socialists described the opposition’s stance as an attempt to delegitimize the process.
The boycotting MP UÇK did not let Nano
An Albanian police officer arresting a refugee from Kosovo in Tropoja
REUTERS photo