Prime Minister Edi Rama has confirmed that the Socialist Party majority will pass the changes to the Electoral Code without revising them.
The changes were approved by the Socialist majority on October 5th but were then returned to Parliament by President Ilir Meta. The President said they were unconstitutional and that he had sought the opinion of the Venice Commission. He implored the government to wait for the opinion before passing them again.
In Albanian politics, if the President does not decree the law and returns it to parliament, the parliament has the opportunity to amend it as per his suggestions and then pass it, or just pass it without changes.
After the meeting of the PS parliamentary group today, Rama said the amendments will be approved as soon as possible and without. changes.
“WE vote as soon as possible as soon as the next voting session is scheduled, without any change of points. We will vote for the code as voted by the parliament with a majority that is meaningful so no one can question the will of the parliament, much less Ilir Meta.”
84 votes are needed to pass the amendments. On October 5, the amendments were approved by 96 votes including Socialist majority MPs and 16 MPs from the parliamentary opposition.
The changes to the electoral code were condemned by several different actors. The British Embassy in Tirana said they regretted the amendments as they were not created with consensus.
Both the EU Delegation and the US Embassy criticised the agreement as well.
