The Albanian standard of evaluation: five of the most active deputies in parliament were not included again in the candidate lists of their political parties (Erjeta Alhysa, Fatmir Toci, Jozefina Topalli, Namik Kopliku, and Anila Agalliu), and from the list of the “silents” 21 to 27 deputies were reelected in their previous positions. In countries with a democratic tradition the opposite usually happens, but in Albania wealth and loyalty are the preferred indicators, rather than proficiency and ability.
The monitoring conducted by the Institute for Political Studies on deputies’ activity and the Parliament during 2017 shows that the most active deputy in parliamentary discussions was Ben Blushi. A harsh critic of the government and founder of a political party, Blushi, discussed in 15 out of 21–23 active parliamentary sessions, and in total during 15 out of 17 sessions where there parliamentary discussions. After him, the deputy with the most activity in discussions was Mimoza Hafizi. Together with Blushi she was the co-founder of new political party LIBRA.
From the Socialist Party the deputy that was most active in discussions was Taulant Balla, giving primarily political speeches directed at the opposition or in discussions responding to Blushi and others’ reproaches. Ervin Bushati has also been active in numerous discussions, the majority of them having been as a result of his position as parliamentary commission secretary.
Edi Rama and Erjon Braçe have participated in the same number of discussions. The fact that the Prime Minister holds fewer discussions than the leading people in the list shows the lack of opposition in Parliament and the lack of focus and interest of the Prime Minister for political replies. All his discussions have been incidental political declarations and replies against one or two key deputies in Parliament such as Blushi, as during the last session of Parliement, on May 22.
Six deputies have participated in six discussions – primarily representatives of parliamentary commissions or drafters of specific laws. With the exception of the former prime minister Sali Berisha, who has spoken in every session in Parliament in which he was present. The opposition has a minimum number of deputies with a positive record, especially because of the boycott, but also because of the domination of an active group in Parliament, made up of one or two names.
In the list of the “silent” deputies from 2017 there are a record number of deputies in comparison with parliamentary session of 2015-2016. There are 48 deputies that have not been included in parliamentary debates, that haven’t been part of discussions on specific issues, that haven’t taken any legal initiative, and haven’t used the parliamentary tribune for political declarations.
The list is comprised of known names in politics, leaders of political parties, some active heads of parliamentary commissions, and a long list of business people, who traditionally have not been speakers in Parliament. It is interestingnthat around 21 to 27 of them have been included again in the list of candidates of their political parties on June 25 elections, the majority of them high up in the list. If we refer to parliamentary contributions, their careers in the political parties have experienced a decline, but since political parties apply different promotion criteria they have again been qualified, despite the negative mark they have left in the memory of parliamentary activity.
Two other deputies are part of the list who have had health problems, so they have been absent form several sessions. There are also new deputies recently elected due to changes made to the parliamentary makeup, for whom there can be an excuse for their negative evaluation in the listing of deputes without any parliamentary contributions.
As a clarification, the Institute for Political Studies has conducted a partial monitoring of parliamentary activity during the period of January to May 2017. The monitoring is based in two main criteria: the qualitative level of representation of the electorate by the deputies (engagement in debates, issues, commissions, interpellations, questions sessions, etc.) and the system of transparency of institutions and the parliamentary activity with the citizens (including the level of the compliance with the regulations and other acts that regulate the activity of the Assembly). The methodology used is the same one applied to a number of Parliaments, and is part of the international network for an open parliament.
