The head of the state, Ilir Meta also delivered a news conference this morning, saying that “the decision of the Electoral College has no legal effect and been taken under pressure”. According to him, the country’s Constitutional Court is the only one that can decide on his decision.
Albania’s president has condemned a decision by electoral authorities in favor of holding municipal elections this weekend, calling on the ruling Socialists to hold talks and not carry out an “imaginary” voting process.
President Ilir Meta said Tuesday that full membership negotiations with the European Union wouldn’t open if Albania held Sunday’s elections without the opposition, which is boycotting them.
The Electoral College ruled unanimously Monday that a small political party must take part in Sunday’s vote, a move against Meta’s decision earlier this month to cancel the elections. Meta said he feared the balloting would be “undemocratic” without the participation of center-right opposition parties.
Meta said the Electoral College was influenced by “political pressure and blackmail.”
“Yesterday, the Electoral College considered the request of a political party against a decision of the Central Election Commission which didn’t allow it to deregister from the now imaginary election of June 30,” he said Tuesday.
“Only the Constitutional Court may judge the validity of a decree from the president of the republic,” Meta said.//a.i/
