On Tuesday, the Committee for Legal Affairs adopted the changes to the Electoral Code, as agreed with the extra-parliamentary opposition on June 5.
The parliamentary opposition did not support the changes, and asked for the electoral administration not to be composed of people assigned by political parties.
No changes whatsoever were made to the agreement at the Political Council.
It comes after disputes regarding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s attempt to make more changes to the Electoral Code, but also to the Constitution, without the opposition’s agreement.
It’s not clear whether Rama has dropped his initiative to change the Constitution.
With the support of the parliamentary opposition, Rama has the necessary votes to change it.
He has supported the parliamentary opposition’s proposals to change from closed to partially open party candidate lists, so voters can vote on individuals, not on lists presented by party leaders. Rama has also supported to change pre-electoral coalitions, from those with separate party lists to coalitions with a joint list.
The opposition claims that the EU/US-facilitated electoral reform deal prohibits Rama from making such changes.
Both sides agreed to discuss new changes but failed to reach an agreement.
The draft electoral reform will pass a parliamentary vote, where it needs 84 of the 122 MPs presently occupying seats.
