Select members of the Albanian Parliament will meet at midday today to deliberate on the election of the country’s next President.
In today’s meeting, which marks the official beginning of the selection process, committee and party leaders will decide on when Parliament will hold the first round of voting.
The Constitution allows up to five sessions for the president’s election. The Socialists have the simple majority required to elect the president in the fourth or fifth round of voting, while the first three sessions require at least some votes from the opposition.
The country’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Party (PD), is undergoing a leadership struggle that has left its mark on the presidential elections as well.
Democratic MP Enkeled Alibeaj has opted to collaborate with the Socialist majority and published his own guidelines for the PD’s participation in the upcoming elections. He is supported by a small number of Democratic MPs, despite being sacked from his position as leader of the party’s parliamentary group during a recent convention.
Meanwhile, the majority of the PD sides with Sali Berisha and his Refoundation Committee. Last week, the Committee voted a resolution where it stated that it would vote only for a consensual candidate.
