The German Foreign Ministry has stated to the media that the accusations of vote rigging in the last general elections should be investigated by the judicial system and parliament.
Following comments from the German government pertaining to the decision of opposition MPs to quit parliament, the Foreign Ministry stated for Deutsche Welle that:
“The accusations and allegations about vote rigging in the previous elections must be handled by the judicial system and parliament. The right to demonstrate is an important element of the democratic constitution.”
Whilst the German authorities have called for a proper investigation into the vote rigging scandal, they have denounced the resignation of the opposition stating that they believe “the right platform for resolving political conflicts is parliament”.
They added that they believe it will lead to stagnation around the EU decision whether to open membership negotiations, ignoring the fact that the country, its institutions and judicial system was in crisis long before the actions of the opposition.
Wiretaps have shown that Edi Rama’s government rigged the 2017 general elections by collaborating with organised criminal groups. Through these partnerships, voters were threatened, votes were bought, and illegal benefits were offered. A number of key officials were implicated in the wiretaps when they were heard and recorded colluding with well known criminals and organised gangs.
The story was broken by Klodiana Lala of BIRN and then published on the Voice of America. The wiretaps implicated dozens of socialist party MPs as well as high-level officials in the cities of Durres, Kavaja, Lezha and Dibra.
