The Albanian Parliament issued of the April 25 elections will convene today at 10 a.m. to begin of the country’s 10th legislature.
140 deputies will sit in parliament, with the ruling Socialist Party (PS) holding 74 of those seats, followed by the Democratic Party (PD) with 59, the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) with 4, and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) with 3. The results of the April 25 elections gave the PS a comfortable majority.
Following Albanian parliamentary procedure, PS Deputy Luljeta Bozo will open this first session, as the oldest member of Parliament. It will be followed by a verification and swearing in of all new deputies.
In an afternoon session, Parliament will vote to confirm the new Speaker of Parliament proposed by the PS, former Minister of Education Lindita Nikolla.
By law, her candidacy must be signed off by at least 15 deputies, and she will be elected without a debate and by secret ballot.
Friday also marks the day of the opposition’s return to Parliament after a 30-month absence. The PD burned their mandates in February 2019, and refused to participate in the local elections of that June, leaving the PS to rule largely uncontested.
Last night, controversy has erupted inside the PD as its leader, Lulzim Basha, expelled party co-founder and former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha from the parliamentary group. The decision comes after the US Department of State declared Berisha “persona non grata” and US Ambassador to Albania called for his dismissal.
Nevertheless, Berisha said that despite the decision to expel him from the PD’s parliamentary group, he will enter parliament as a deputy.
