Today, Albania’s Electoral Reform Political Committee went back to the discussion table after having suspended talks on March 9 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Co-chairs of the Committee, Rudina Hajdari and Damian Gjiknuri met with opposition representatives Oerd Bylykbashi and Petrit Vasili.
This meeting was requested by the opposition, that claimed it had met its duties by putting forth concrete proposals and it now fell to the Socialist majority to demonstrate it is truly willing to carry out this reform.
The Democratic Party’s (PD) principal request is the formation of a joint transitory government with the Socialist majority. However, the Socialist majority have rejected PD’s proposal as being politically motivated and not part of the OSCE-ODIHR recommendations on electoral reform. Today, Gjiknuri once again responded to PD’s requests by stating that the agenda for electoral reform talks is set and the issue of a transitory government cannot be reintroduced.
Following today’s meeting, Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) representative Vasili claimed that the Socialist majority wasn’t being cooperative and was attempting to pass the electoral reform without the consent and input of the opposition. Vasili warned that this would deepen the political crisis in the country. PD representative Bylykbashi echoed the sentiment in his own statement after the Committee’s meeting.
On May 7, Rudina Hajari accused both the government and the opposition of being unwilling to change the electoral reform despite their public statements.
The electoral reform should have been approved before March 15, but the coronavirus preventative measures instituted by the government led to a suspension of talks.
The new deadline for passing the electoral reform seems to be June.
