Prime Minister Rama clarified today the technical details of his offer for the Democratic Party, aiming to end the opposition’s boycott and to secure their participation in the June’s election.
Through a conversation with journalists, Mr. Rama said that PD Chair Lulzim Basha has two days to accept the offer containing the following;
- The PD can propose a name, not a PD member, for the post of Deputy Prime Minister, who will be leading a task force together with US, the EU and the OSCE representatives, with the aim of monitoring the conduct of state institutions during the campaign (oil misuse, use of administration officials)
- The PD can propose a non-PD member to the post of Deputy Minister of Interior, who together with the US, European and OSCE Head of Mission, will monitor the state police’s conduct during the campaign.
- PD can propose a non-PD member to the post of State Secretary for Technology who will prepare a governmental project for electronic counting, electronic voting, which if accepted by OSCE ODIHR, will be funded by the government for the 2019 local elections.
Prime Minister Rama stressed again, that he would not resign and that the date of the elections will not be postponed.
Prime Minister Rama’s stance and his proposals have changed from those of April 25, during the negotiations with David McAllister and Knut Fleckenstein, when Mr. Rama agreed about:
- Releasing four key government ministers to nominate four caretaker ministers;
- Acceping the postponement of the election date for July 16.
- Adopting the election through consensus of the President of the Republic and the Ombudsman;
- Accepting to pass the position of Central Elections Committee Chair to the opposition, but holding the majority for PS.
Firstly, it seems that the election of Ilir Meta as President and the fact that LSI has decided to enter the elections has made Prime Minister Rama position stronger, thus removing from the discussion some of the previous bids. This fact was also noted during the conversation when the prime minister stated:
“Sali and Lulzim, but especially Sali as an old chess player, must realize that what was on the table a week ago is no longer there. When you had the possibility to take a stone you did not, because you were concentrated to take the queen. But now there is no more time.”
Second, none of Mr. Rama’s new proposals respond to opposition demands for Rama’s resignation, caretaker government formation and electronic voting, and to opposition’s accusations about drug trafficking and the fact that mafia has captured the state.
And third, from the technical explanation that Prime Minister Rama made about his offer it is clear that even if the opposition accepted it, all that it could do would be only election monitoring. So de facto the opposition and the international representatives would have no impact on improving the voting conditions, in providing free and fair elections.
