When Edi Rama was invited to the studio of Opinion, and asked whether the future President of the Republic will be the result of a general consensus (i.e., coming as a result of a negotiation with the opposition) or whether he will be elected by Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) and the Socialist Party (PS) coalition, he answered:
There is no discussion about this! The election of the new president belongs to the majority coalition and will be elected by it.
This question had been asked before in January during an interview with TV Klan, where got almost the same answer: the election of the president belongs to the majority.
In the following days, neither Rama nor Meta denied the fact that the election of the president belongs to this majority. In addition, they also discussed about a compromise that the president would come from LSI.
Since then, nothing has happened. But suddenly, PS, LSI, and PDIU consumed the first two election rounds without presidential candidate, and have set the third one for Thursday. No name was presented in the first two rounds. This looks absurd from procedural point of view. These parties together have all the votes they need for the next President’s election.
When asked about this political maneuver, Meta answered that the majority is waiting for the opposition for an agreement and a larger consensus and that he hopes for this to happen within this week.
But in fact, the president’s election hasn’t for a second been a concern of the Democratic Party (PD). The latter has denied all rumors that the future president could be the object of a possible agreement or used as a bargain chip to reach a solution for the crisis. However, during their meetings with ambassadors, the majority has mentioned two names from the opposition camp that could lead to consensus.
All of this resembles more of a turbo-folk political party at a time of a crisis which creates a stalemate in the elections. It seems overly absurd, waiting for PD to grant consensus for something they haven’t made demands about or put any conditions on. What’s more, PS has not made any changes to Rama’s previous declarations. His declarations that the president’s election belongs to the majority remain. While the PD, for that matter, is hardly expected to return to Parliament to discuss the issue of the president. So, the whole thing seems strange.
The third voting round will happen on April 27. Two others remain after it. If the majority respects the maximum legal deadlines, the last call is on May 11. And if they fail to introduce a candidate also in the fifth round, the country goes directly into early elections.
But if the majority acts faster than the deadlines, then we could enter early elections somewhere as early as June 11. So, one week prior to the fixed election date. In this case, the constitution leaves no doubt. Here the PS and LSI could profit from the new procedure. They could disregard the decision reached last week by the National Election Commission (KQZ) to ignore the request to delay of the date of electoral coalition registration. In this new situation, they could register again as a coalition, they could use the excuse that PD didn’t enter the presidential elections and could go ahead.
Even though this is not the right way, it has been used before to exit sticky situations. It has happened in Kosovo, when the PDK government of Hashim Thaçi overturned itself and led the country into early elections. In the informal politics of Tirana it is rumored that there is a compromise in which Meta could head the country, but this expected to happen after elections. If it is true, the above scenario is the best way to achieve this, even though this game hides many mysteries!
In any case, the next two weeks until the elections of Kavaja will be decisive for politics!
