President Ilir Meta has blasted the constitutional changes affecting elections in Albania. He accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of staging a coup by approving partially open party candidate lists and changing rules for coalitions only a few months before elections.
“No kidnappers gang will be able to run away from the deserved response it will receive by the power of citizens united against this coup,” Meta wrote on social media.
He called the changes unconstitutional, violent, unacceptable, and denounced them for being unilateral, unjustifiable, hasted, and made by a parliament with incomplete legitimacy.
Meta claimed they violated the social peace, EU integration and two agreements between the majority and opposition regarding the electoral reform, on January 14 and June 5.
The President slammed the “opportunistic and hypocritical rhetoric of some internationals”, which he said “goes against the aspiration and strategic project of Albanians to build a European future.”
He assured the public he will defend the constitution, as well as “citizens’ rights and will to take their destiny into their own hands.”
In his reply, the Prime Minister claimed that his party had given up impeaching the President, despite his alleged multiple violations of constitution, for the sake of the country.
Rama challenged Meta to try not implement today’s changes and to push the people against “the state”:
“Just as you could not stop the local elections and as you could not set Albania on fire before, you can in no way stop the Constitution of Albania from being binding on you, just as you can in no way ignite the fire of conflict you’ve dreamed of between the people and the state!” he wrote.
The Prime Minister concluded by calling the President “Luis XIV”.
